SMNEH  NHGHBOURS 


JULMKJOmSTON 


Home   Mission  Study  Course 
[Inter-denominational'] 


Indian  and  Spanish 
Neighbours 


JULIA  H.  JOHNSTON, 

l£H<*-  l^i 

"  Who  Is  My  Neighbour?  " 


NEW  YORK        CHICAGO       TORONTO 

Fleming  H.   Revell  Company 

LONDON     AND     EDINBURGH 
C.  ^  (  ^  O  5" 


Copyright,  1905,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


THIRD  EDITION 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  80  Wabash  Avenue 
Toronto:  27  Richmond  Street,  W. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:  100  Princes  Street 


Si. 


What  the  campaign  in  Pennsylvania  was  to  the  Civil 
War,  what  the  battle  of  Gettysburg  was  to  that  cam- 
paign, what  the  fight  on  Cemetery  Hill  was  to  that  battle, 
such  is  the  present  opportunity  to  the  Christian  civiliza- 
tion of  this  country.  Whatever  can  be  done  must  be 
done  with  speed.  The  building  of  great  states  depends 
on  one  decade.  The  nationalizing  of  alien  races  must  be 
the  work  of  a  period  which,  in  a  nation's  life,  is  but  an 
hour.  The  elements  we  work  upon  and  those  we  must 
work  with,  are  fast  precipitating  themselves  in  fixed  in- 
stitutions and  consolidated  character.  Nothing  will  await 
our  convenience.  Nothing  is  tolerant  of  a  somnolent 
enterprise.  Immeasurable  opportunities  surround  and 
overshadow  us.  Such,  as  I  read  it,  is  the  central  fact  in 
the  philosophy  of  American  Home  Missions. 

— Professor  Austin  Phelps. 

Our  plea  is  not  America  for  America's  sake,  but 
America  for  the  world's  sake.  For,  if  this  generation  is 
faithful  to  its  trust,  America  is  to  become  God's  right 
arm  in  His  battle  with  the  world's  ignorance,  and  oppres- 

n  and  sin. 

— Dr*  Josiah  Strong. 


CONTENTS 

NORTH  AMERICAN  INDIANS 

I.  THE  RED  MAN'S  BURDEN  .          .          .         -13 

Origin — Tribes  —  Characteristics —  Environ- 
ment— Language — Religion — Indian  Wrongs 
— Indian  Rights — Progress  in  Legislation 
and  Administration — Fagots  of  Facts. 

II.  THE  EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEM       ...       43 

Abilities  —  Disabilities  —  Possibilities — Gov- 
ernment Schools — Boarding-Schools — Native 
Schools — Mission-Schools — Side  Lights. 

III.  THE     MISSION     FIELD — SEED-SOWING     AND 

SHEAVES       ......       6l 

At  the  Outset — The  Obligation — Organiza- 
tion—Obstacles— Openings — Ingatherings — 
Gleanings. 


THE  SPANISH-SPEAKING  PEOPLE 

IV.  EARLIER  AND  LATER  DAYS  ...       97 

New  Mexico — Missionary  Work — Arizona — 
California —  Mexican  Notes. 

V.  CUBA — PREVIOUS  AND  PRESENT  CONDITIONS,      1 1 7 

Medical  Work — School  Work — Evangelistic 
Work — Signs  of  the  Times. 

VI.  PORTO  Rico — YESTERDAY  AND  TO-DAY         .      133 

Distinctive    Needs  —  Efforts— Results— The 
Land  to  be  Possessed — Glimpses. 

7 


8  Contents 

VII.  WORK  OF  WOMAN'S  HOME  MISSIONARY  SO- 
CIETIES .  .  .  .  .  -157 
Baptist — Congregational — Cumberland  Pres- 
byterian— Methodist  Episcopal — Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  South  —  Presbyterian — 
Protestant  Episcopal — Reformed  Church  in 
America. 

IN  CONCLUSION       .         .         .         .         .187 
COLLATERAL  READING      .         .         .         0     193 


From  the  Editorial  Committee 

IT  is  the  purpose  of  the  Inter-denominational  Com- 
mittee for  the  Home  Mission  Study  Course  to  present 
through  its  annual  publications  every  phase  of  mission 
work  being  done  in  the  United  States  and  its  dependencies 
by  the  Home  Mission  Societies  of  the  different  denomina- 
tions. Those  taking  the  course  will  thus  gain  year  after 
year  an  ever-widening  view  of  our  country's  needs  and 
the  responsibility  resting  upon  the  church  of  Christ. 

The  undertaking  is  large,  and  as  the  books  are  limited 
in  price,  and,  therefore,  in  size,  it  will  of  necessity  require 
several  volumes  to  complete  it.  Continuity  and  proper 
classification  require  such  a  division  of  subjects  as  will  pre- 
serve the  unities  through  the  entire  series.  In  following 
this  plan  it  may  occur  that  one  volume  of  the  series  -/ill 
deal  only  in  part,  possibly  not  at  all,  with  the  fields  or  phases 
of  work  of  a  particular  society,  while  another  volume  may 
deal  exclusively  with  such  work.  Let  no  one,  therefore, 
who  has  entered  upon  the  study  course  feel  a  lack  of  in- 
terest in  any  book  because  the  broad  range  of  the  study 
may  require  that  year  the  presentation  of  other  fields  than 
those  in  which  she  is  especially  interested — these  will  be 
considered  in  turn. 

As  each  division  of  an  army  has  its  own  place  in  the 
march  or  the  battle,  so  the  different  Christian  denomina- 
tions have  been  led  of  God  into  various  fields  of  activity 
— seeking  each  in  its  own  place  to  advance  the  Kingdom 
of  our  Lord.  There  are  "  diversities  of  operations  but  it 
is  the  same  God  which  worketh  all  in  all."  We  are 
"  the  body  of  Christ,"  and  if  one  member  is  successful 
it  is  cause  of  rejoicing  to  all;  if  one  member  suffer  failure, 
all  suffer  with  it.  Therefore  this  community  of  life  and 
spirit  should  give  an  interest  in  all  work  done  for  Christ, 
no  matter  by  whose  hands  it  is  wrought. 

The  committee  has  been  greatly  encouraged  by  the 
reception  accorded  to  the  first  two  books  of  the  series  and 
asks  for  this  book,  "  as  one  that  is  worthy,"  the  same 
kind  consideration  from  home  mission  workers  and  the 
general  public. 


THE  MIDNIGHT  KNOCK 

Tis  night,  and  the  silent  city  sleeps, 
While  only  Sorrow  its  vigil  keeps, 
When  lo,  a  knock  at  the  close-shut  door, 
And  a  troubled  voice  doth  in  haste  implore : 
"  Give  me  now  three  loaves  for  a  pilgrim  guest, 
Oh,  rise,  and  give  me  at  my  request." 
But  the  answer  comes  from  a  voice  within, 
"  I  cannot  rise  for  your  noise  and  din. 
My  children  are  with  me,  here  in  bed, 
And  I  cannot  give  you  the  loaves  of  bread." 
Still  knocking,  knocking,  the  neighbour  stands, 
With  pleading  tones  and  with  empty  hands. 

Ah  yes,  it  is  well,  through  the  hours  of  night 

To  keep  the  children  from  harm  and  fright, 

It  is  well  to  slumber,  but  not  to  rest 

When  the  neighbour  comes  on  such  urgent  quest. 

It  is  naught  that  the  household  is  warmed  and  fed 

When  the  outside  plea  is  for  loaves  of  bread. 

Still  at  our  door  comes  the  midnight  knock, 

No  rude  alarm,  no  unlawful  shock ; 

But,  while  we  lie  in  our  quiet  bed, 

Our  needy  neighbour  is  begging  bread, 

And  the  hungry  pilgrims  go  unfed. 

Shall  we  rise  and  give  him  without  delay, 
Or  hope  that,  in  time,  he  will  go  away  ? 
He  will  not  depart.     He  will  stand  and  plead 
With  his  empty  hands  and  his  piteous  need. 
We  may  try  to  sleep — if  so  be  we  will  — 
The  importunate  neighbour  stands  there  still. 

O  Christian  householder,  richly  blest, 

With  bread  and  to  spare  in  your  home  of  rest, 

Arise  and  minister  unto  him 

Who  stands  at  your  door  in  the  shadows  dim  — 

Your  neighbour,  whatever  his  garb  or  hue, 

And  the  Golden  Rule  is  the  measure  true. 

The  midnight  knock  is  a  call  to  serve, 

Though  it  rouse  the  senses,  and  shock  the  nerve, 

It  is  not  fine  raiment,  nor  dainty  fare, 

But  your  bread  that  the  pleader  begs  to  share. 

Will  you  put  your  Master  to  open  shame  ? 

He  sent  the  neighbour  this  boon  to  claim. 

Arise  and  give  him,  in  Jesus'  name. 

-7.  a.  y. 

10 


FOREWORD 

VITAL  questions  refuse  to  go  unanswered. 
Some  one  must  make  reply.     "Who  is 
my  neighbour  ?  "  is  one  of  the  inquiries 
that  present  insistent  front.     Our  Lord  Himself 
has  given  the  answer;  we  have  only  to  hearken, 
and  to  do  as  He  hath  said.     He  will  show  us  our 
neighbour,  and  how  to  be  neighbourly. 

In  our  relation  to  the  Indian  and  Spanish- 
speaking  peoples,  we  have  abundant  light  upon 
duty  and  privilege.  We  are  "  worse  than  in- 
fidels" if  "we  care  not  for  our  own,"  and  these 
are  our  own,  in  close  neighbourhood,  "under 
our  flag."  By  way  of  distinction,  we  call  them 
alien  races,  but  "The  Lord  hath  made  of  one 
blood"  all  of  these,  and  there  is  "One  God  and 
Father  of  all." 

To  promote  acquaintance  with  our  Indian  and 
Spanish  neighbours,  and  to  reveal  what  may  and 
must  be  done  for  them,  through  glimpses  of 
what  has  been  done,  these  chapters  have  been 
written.  They  are  but  points  of  departure — 
sign-boards  set  up  to  say,  "This  way."  They 
are  not  meant  to  be  exhaustive,  but  suggestive. 
It  is  earnestly  hoped  that  they  may  indicate  and 
direct  further  improving  and  delightful  study 
and  wider  research. 

ii 


1 2  Foreword 

Much  work  has  been  done,  but  even  a  little 
study  will  show  needs  immeasurably  beyond  our 
own  power  to  supply.  There  is  always  a  heart- 
break in  this.  But  there  is  always  the  great  army 
of  the  uninterested  to  win  over,  and  knowledge 
can  be  passed  on.  It  is  better  to  gain  half  a  share 
from  another  than  to  give  double  share  one's 
self.  The  responsibility  of  engaging  others  is  as 
great  as  that  of  doing  and  giving  one's  own  pro- 
portion. One  whose  beautiful  life  was  devoted 
to  missions,  but  who  was  denied  the  joy  of  fill- 
ing the  cup  according  to  her  own  intense  desire, 
sought  to  enlist  others  by  presenting  the  need 
and  the  plea  for  larger  measure,  saying,  "  Here  I 
bring  my  empty  cup,  praying  that  some  one  else 
may  fill  it  as  I  cannot.  Who  will  fill  my  empty 
cup?" 


NORTH  AMERICAN  INDIANS 


The  Red  Man's  Burden 


INDIAN  NAMES 

Ve  say,  they  all  have  passed  away, 

That  noble  race  and  brave, 
That  their  light  canoes  have  vanished 

From  off  the  crested  wave ; 
That  'mid  the  forests  where  they  roam 

There  rings  no  hunter's  shout ; 
But  their  name  is  on  your  waters. 

Ye  may  not  wash  it  out ! 

Tis  where  Ontario's  billow 

Like  ocean's  surge  is  curled, 
Where  strong  Niagara's  thunders  wake 

The  echoes  of  the  world ; 
Where  red  Missouri  bringeth 

Rich  tributes  from  the  west, 
And  Rappahannock  sweetly  sleeps 

On  green  Virginia's  breast. 

Ye  say,  their  cone-like  cabins, 

That  clustered  o'er  the  vale, 
Have  fled  away  like  withered  leaves 

Before  the  autumn  gale  ; 
But  their  memory  liveth  on  your  hills, 

Their  baptism  on  your  shore, 
Your  everlasting  rivers  speak 

Their  dialect  of  yore. 

Old  Massachusetts  wears  it 

Within  her  lordly  crown, 
And  broad  Ohio  bears  it 

Amid  her  young  renown ; 
Connecticut  hath  wreathed  it 

Where  her  quiet  foliage  waves, 
And  bold  Kentucky  breathes  it  hoarse 

Through  all  her  ancient  caves. 

Wachuset  hides  its  lingering  voice 

Within  his  rocky  heart, 
And  Alleghany  graves  its  tone 

Throughout  his  lofty  chart ; 
Monadnock  on  his  forehead  hoar 

Doth  seal  the  sacred  trust ; 
Your  mountains  build  their  monument, 

Though  ye  destroy  their  dust. 

— Mrs.  L.  H.  Sigourney. 


I 

THE  RED  MAN'S  BURDEN 

"  "W  "IT  THO  is  my  neighbour  ?  "     He  is  wait- 

\/\/  ing    for    recognition    within    arm's 

T    T     length,  a  space  easily  shortened  to  a 

hand's-breadth,  when   Christ's  hand  upon  ours 

makes  them  neighbourly. 

The  Indian,  our  earliest  neighbour,  outranks  us 
all  in  the  remoteness  of  an  historic  and  mytho- 
logic  past.  He  is  the  " Native  American, "and  to 
him  we  owe  not  only  duty,  but  deference,  spite 
of  the  greasy  blankets  and  bedraggled  feathers 
of  degenerate  specimens.  Where  did  he  come 
from,  and  what  is  he  ? 

ORIGIN 

Ethnologists  have  traced  the  ancient  Americans 
to  Phoenicia,  Carthage,  Greece  and  Peru,  while 
the  theory  of  their  descent  from  the  ten  lost  tribes 
of  Israel  has  staunch  adherents.  Distant  kinship 
to  the  Chinese  and  the  Hindus  seems  to  be  shown 
by  the  resemblance  of  traditions,  modes  of  reckon- 
ing time,  and  other  particulars,  historic  and  per- 
sonal. The  American  stragglers  are  supposed  to 
have  crossed  to  this  country  when  solid  land  filled 
the  area  of  Bering  Strait. 

The  name  Indian  is  a  misnomer,  as  everybody 
knows.  Columbus,  having  set  out  to  find  a  pas- 
sage to  India,  jumped  to  the  conclusion  that  he 
had  found  it,  and  named  the  aborigines  accord- 


16      Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

ing.  We  now  walk  decorously  to  a  different 
conclusion  than  that  to  which  the  discoverer 
leaped,  but  we  keep  the  name  "Indian"  never- 
theless. 

It  is  universally  agreed  that  there  is  more  uni- 
formity as  to  customs  and  traditions  among  the 
tribes  of  the  new  world  than  among  the  nations 
of  the  old,  but,  in  spite  of  fresh  light  gained 
during  the  past  thirty  years,  the  curtain  of  mys- 
tery shuts  out  the  beginnings.  The  almost  entire 
absence  of  written  language,  the  native  reserve 
and  acquired  reticence,  baffle  research  and  prevent 
accurate  knowledge.  Part  of  the  red  man's  bur- 
den is  an  unknown,  unimagined,  untranslatable 
past. 

According  to  Iroquois  tradition,  the  origin  of 
the  human  race  is  thus  described  : 

"Once  upon  a  time,  the  sky-holder  resolved 
upon  the  creation  of  a  race  that  should  surpass  all 
others  in  beauty,  bravery  and  strength.  So  from 
the  bosom  of  a  great  island,  where  they  had 
previously  subsisted  upon  moles,  the  sky-holder 
brought  into  daylight  six  perfectly-mated  couples, 
who  were  set  apart  as  the  ancestors  of  the  great- 
est of  all  peoples." 

It  is  easier  to  refuse  and  to  refute  this  fable, 
than  to  replace  it  with  a  more  exact  account  of  the 
origin  of  the  North  American  Indians. 

TRIBES 

The  tribal  relation  is  an  important  factor  in  the 
Indian  question.  Many  complications  arise  from 


The  Red  Man's  Burden  17 

the  existence  of  so  many  divisions,  with  varying 
customs  and  conditions,  and  from  that  tribal  and 
family  loyalty  which  cements  the  relation  and 
perpetuates  animosities. 

Over  one  hundred  and  sixty  tribes,  with  various 
subdivisions,  are  enumerated  by  Mrs.  Helen  Hunt 
Jackson  in  "A  Century  of  Dishonour." 

"  The  Six  Nations  "  of  New  York  State  and  "  The 
Five  Civilized  Tribes"  formerly  of  the  South, 
and  now  of  Indian  Territory,  are  the  most  famil- 
iar groups,  but  the  Pimas,  Peorias,  Navajoes 
and  Wyandots,  with  other  names  as  musical, 
and  many  in  gutteral  contrast,  leap  to  the 
memory. 

In  1816,  almost  three  hundred  distinct  tribes, 
and  one  and  a  quarter  million  Indians,  were  found 
in  the  United  States.  In  sixty-four  years,  owing 
to  wars,  disease,  fatal  "firewater,"  and  mistaken 
policy,  there  was  a  total  loss  of  about  894,000. 
The  present  number  of  Indians  is  roughly  esti- 
mated to  be  about  300,000. 

"When  the  best  thing  has  been  said  for  the 
Indian,  he  is  to-day  the  last  man.  The  immi- 
grants landing  at  Ellis  Island  in  three  months 
outnumber  the  entire  Indian  population,  and  four 
times  as  many  Porto  Ricans  as  there  are  Indians 
have  come  under  our  stars  and  stripes.  The 
negro  question  is  forty  times  as  great  as  the 
Indian  question.  But  shall  the  red  man  be  for- 
gotten ?  Not  if  the  church  has  a  message  from 
God,  for  God  forgets  no  man  in  His  messages." 

But,  although  a  diminishing,  this  is  not  by  any 


l8       Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

means  a  dying  race,  and  its  importance  lies  far 
outside  of  numerical  values. 

Totemism,  "  a  symbolic  system,  based  upon 
the  theory  of  animal  ancestry,"  has  been  a  strong 
tie,  holding  tribes  together,  and  also  separating 
them  from  each  other,  from  primitive  days.  The 
word  was  first  used  by  an  interpreter  in  1792,  and 
applied  to  the  practice  among  the  Northwestern 
tribes,  but  totemism  itself  has  had  a  wide  geo- 
graphical distribution. 

An  Algonquin  legend  says,  "In  old  times  men 
were  as  animals,  and  animals  as  men.  We  know 
not  how  it  was."  A  totem  is  not  always  visible, 
but  may  exist  in  a  sort  of  free-masonry,  indi- 
cating its  nature.  A  totem  pole,  with  its  sur- 
mounting animal,  a  wolf,  a  bear,  or  eagle  from 
which  the  family  is  supposed  to  have  descended, 
is  the  genealogical  tree,  held  in  highest  honour. 
"  Most  of  the  religious  and  civil  observances  of  the 
tribes  are  rooted  in  the  totem,  which  insures 
both  asylum  and  hospitality,  a  visiting  Indian 
feeling  at  liberty  to  exact  from  one  of  his  own 
tree  the  last  degree  of  entertainment,  even  to  a 
dance." 

We  need  have  no  quarrel  with  these  tribal  and 
family  distinctions  among  barbaric  people.  "The 
use  and  quest  of  heraldic  designs  is  but  a  survival 
of  the  totem  stage,  and  the  more  remote  and 
apochryphal  the  creature,  like  the  ideal  griffin  of 
antiquity,  the  more  unquestionable  the  descent. 
The  American  eagle,  the  English  lion,  and  the 
Russian  bear,  may  really  be  called  the  totems  of 


The  Red  Man's  Burden  19 

these  nations,  representing  their  supposed  char- 
acteristics." 

The  outward  tokens  are  now  seldom  seen 
south  of  Alaska,  but  the  thing  signified  may  ex- 
ist in  power,  without  the  sign,  and  the  influence 
has  come  down  from  far  ages. 

CHARACTERISTICS 

Physical.  A  tawny  skin,  high  cheek  bones, 
straight  black  hair,  keen  eyes,  lithe  figure,  stolid 
face  and  restrained  manner,  are  universally  asso- 
ciated with  the  Indian  race.  It  is  said  that  the 
Indian  may  be  known  by  his  walk,  as  he  inva- 
riably toes  in.  Few  typical  specimens  of  the 
earlier  red  man  may  be  seen  to-day.  The 
indolence  and  insolence  fostered  by  the  furnish- 
ing of  supplies  to  "the  nation's  wards,"  and 
the  drink  habit,  have  led  to  physical  de- 
generacy. 

Mental.  It  is  difficult  to  form  a  composite  that 
shall  represent  the  average  Indian  ability.  The 
older  people  are  often  dull,  although  some  show 
great  business  shrewdness.  The  hope  for  the 
coming  day  is  in  the  youth.  These  are  generally 
bright  and  impressionable,  "gleg  at  the  uptake," 
and  compare  favourably  with  their  young  neigh- 
bours of  lighter  skins.  There  are  frequent  ex- 
ceptions of  marked  ability  and  accomplishment. 
As  students  they  are  especially  apt  in  writing  and 
drawing,  and  do  well  in  arithmetic.  They  de- 
light in  music,  learn  to  play  well  upon  instru- 
ments, and  sing  with  spirit. 


2o       Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

Prowess,  craftiness,  and  superstition  are  dis- 
tinguishing marks  of  Indian  character. 

The  Cherokee  Council,  the  law-making  body  of 
the  tribe,  boasts  men  who  would  command  respect 
and  attention  anywhere.  The  Nez  Perces  have 
shown  marked  capacity  and  ability,  and  other 
tribes  furnish  noteworthy  examples  of  native  gifts 
and  mental  possibilities. 

Social.  Blood  relationship  is  held  sacred.  The 
distinctive  traits  of  family  life,  as  well  as  their 
customs  and  opinions,  resemble  those  of  ancient 
Israel,  and  this  may  have  suggested  the  theory  of 
the  "lost  tribes."  Family  affection  is  marked, 
and  they  are  gregarious,  preferring  to  huddle  to- 
gether in  groups  of  wigwams,  rather  than  to 
dwell  apart  upon  farms. 

Indian  children  play  heartily  together,  choosing 
games  that  represent  home  life,  such  as  making 
little  encampments  of  tepees.  Contrary  to  gen- 
eral opinion,  they  have  a  keen  sense  of  humour 
and  are  often  witty.  The  boys  show  more  grace 
than  the  girls,  who  are  likely  to  acquire  "the 
squaw  walk  "  early — alas  for  these  burden-bearers ! 

Business.  Those  who  think  of  Indians  only  as 
examples  of  utter  thriftlessness,  make  a  mistake. 
Under  existing  conditions,  idleness,  shiftlessness 
and  improvidence  are  often  inevitable.  But  the 
Indian  is  capable  of  industry  and  good  business 
methods,  as  shown  by  many  shining  examples. 
Those  who  are  diligent  in  business,  however,  are 
sometimes  prevented  from  laying  up  in  store,  to 
any  extent,  by  the  prevalent  custom  of  having  all 


The  Red  Man's  Burden  21 

things  common.  As  soon  as  a  man  makes  a  lit- 
tle headway,  and  seems  to  be  prosperous,  his  re- 
lations come  to  visit  him,  staying  long  and  ex- 
pecting much. 

ENVIRONMENT 

This  varies,  as  in  the  case  of  every  other  class . 
under  the  sun.  Excluding  some  local  advance- 
ment in  civilization  and  Christianization,  the  gen- 
eral conditions  of  Indian  life  are  rude,  meagre, 
uncouth,  filthy,  depressing  and  often  degrading. 
Brought  into  contact  with  many  evils  upon  the 
outer  fringes  of  civilization,  but  recoiling  from  its 
centre,  shut  up  to  savagery  in  reservations,  pau- 
perized by  past  policy,  without  the  incentive  and 
energy  that  govern  true  manhood,  the  Indian's 
environment  has  not  a  tendency  to  develop  the 
best  that  is  in  him. 

LANGUAGE 

Indian  tongues  are,  for  the  most  part,  exceed- 
ingly difficult.  Although  musical  to  a  degree, 
they  are  gutteral,  to  the  white  man's  despair. 
The  language  of  signs  is  picturesque,  the  various 
signals  used  in  peace  and  war  being  very  im- 
pressive. The  communication  of  news  is  thus 
accomplished  with  incredible  speed,  in  a  mys- 
terious manner  not  yet  fully  understood  by  out- 
siders. 

In  1820,  a  Cherokee  youth,  Sequoyah  by  name, 
invented  an  alphabet  of  eighty-six  characters  rep- 
resenting as  many  sounds.  In  this  written  lan- 
guage a  newspaper  is  printed  and  supplied  free 


22       Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

to  every  family  by  the  Cherokee  nation.  It  is 
said  that  a  clever  boy  can  learn  to  read  in  a  day, 
the  mastery  of  the  alphabet  being  all  that  is  neces- 
sary. In  1831,  sixty  Indian  languages  were  re- 
ported. Eliot's  Mohican  translation  of  the  Bible 
is  a  treasure-trove  to  philologists. 

All  over  our  land  the  Indian  tongue  has  recorded 
its  silver  syllables  upon  mountain,  lake  and  river, 
with  the  indelible  stamp  of  melodious  names. 

RELIGION 

Says  Mr.  Catlin,  in  "  North  American  Indians," 
"  I  fearlessly  assert  that  the  North  American  Indian 
is  everywhere  in  his  native  state,  highly  moral 
and  religious,  endowed  by  his  Maker  with  an  in- 
tuitive knowledge  of  some  great  Author  of  his 
being,  and  of  the  universe.  I  never  saw  any 
other  people  who  spent  so  much  of  their  time  in 
humbling  themselves  before  the  Great  Spirit  and 
worshipping  Him."  This  verdict  was  given  after 
eight  years  of  travel  among  the  wildest  of  Indian 
tribes. 

Other  writers  testify  that  the  parental  training 
of  children  in  the  knowledge  and  rites  of  their  re- 
ligion is  unusual  and  painstaking.  They  have  a 
firm  belief  in  immortality  and  in  prayers  and 
fasting. 

At  the  age  of  eight  a  Dakota  boy  must  observe 
a  consecration  season,  going  alone  at  daybreak  to 
some  hilltop,  fasting  all  day  and  praying  at  in- 
tervals, "O  Wakondah,  have  pity  on  me  and 
make  me  a  great  man." 


The  Red  Man's  Burden  23 

Superstition  of  an  extreme  type  has  always 
been  an  element  in  Indian  worship.  The  tiny  but 
powerful  "  pukwies,"  creatures  working  untold 
mischief,  have  been  the  bane  of  the  forest  chil- 
dren. For  fear  of  disturbing  them  they  have  gone 
upon  moccasin-shod  feet  in  silence  through  the 
wood.  Wind  and  wave  have  been  peopled  with 
presences,  and  in  spite  of  the  vengeful  cruelty  of 
their  savage  nature,  their  forms  of  religion  have 
been  picturesque  and  appealing,  and  their  observ- 
ances devout.  It  is  said  that  no  other  savage  race 
could  have  furnished  the  suggestion  and  the  basis 
of  "Hiawatha." 

INDIAN  WRONGS 

In  the  old  Indian  burying-ground  at  Stock- 
bridge,  Massachusetts,  stands  a  tall  shaft  upon 
which  white  men  long  ago  engraved  the  tribute, 
"  The  Friends  of  Our  Fathers." 

Early  records  prove  the  truth  of  this  inscription. 
The  native  Americans  met  kindness  with  kindness 
and  faith  with  faith.  But  alas  for  the  afterward  ! 
"Their  story,"  sighs  Mrs.  Alden,  "can  be  writ- 
ten in  two  words  :  'Driven  Out,' — and  ours  in 
three:  '  Fair  Promises  Broken.' " 

From  time  immemorial,  in  order  to  avoid  com- 
plications international  and  interminable,  nations 
have  agreed  upon  three  points:  the  Right  of  Dis- 
covery, the  Right  of  Conquest,  and  the  Right  of 
Occupancy. 

All  land-titles  were  granted  to  our  colonial  fore- 
fathers by  the  British  Crown,  by  virtue  of  the 


24       Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

Right  of  Discovery,  subject  to  the  aborigines' 
Right  of  Occupancy.  By  treaty,  after  the  War 
of  the  Revolution,  Great  Britain  relinquished  all 
claim,  and  the  United  States  then  had  power  to 
grant  titles  subject  to  the  inherent  rights  of  the 
Indian  occupants  of  the  soil,  with  conceded  power 
to  extinguish  those  rights  either  by  purchase  or 
conquest.  "The  Right  of  Conquest  secures  a 
title  which  all  the  courts  of  the  conquerors  can- 
not deny,  but  it  is  gained  and  maintained  by  the 
sword.  Humanity,  however,  has  established  the 
rule  that  the  conquered  shall  not  be  wantonly 
oppressed,  and  that  their  condition  shall  remain  as 
eligible  as  is  compatible  with  the  objects  of  the 
conquest."  So  rules  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States. 

To  yield  everything  to  the  Indians'  Right  of 
Occupancy  would  have  been  to  doom  this  fair 
and  ample  land  to  wilderness  conditions  forever- 
more,  as  the  savages  could  not  redeem  and  culti- 
vate it.  John  Quincy  Adams,  in  1802,  set  forth 
this  fact  with  great  eloquence,  asking,  "  Have  a 
thousand  leagues  of  coast  and  a  boundless  ocean 
been  spread  in  front  of  this  land,  and  shall  every 
purpose  of  utility  to  which  they  could  apply  be 
prohibited  by  the  tenants  of  the  woods  ?  Heaven 
has  not  placed  at  such  irreconcilable  strife  its 
moral  laws  with  its  physical  creation." 

In  1876,  Hon.  John  Eaton,  carrying  out  the 
idea  of  proportion,  estimated  that  if  the  area 
of  the  United  States  were  to  be  apportioned 
among  the  original  occupants  of  the  soil,  it  would 


The  Red  Man's  Burden  25 

give  each  Indian  family  a  manor  of  forty-eight 
square  miles.  Rhode  Island,  then  supporting  a 
population  of  345,506  persons,  would  be  allotted 
to  twenty-six  families. 

The  colonies  agreed  in  general  to  the  obvious 
rights  of  conquerors  and  conquered,  but  there 
was  some  variation  in  the  application  of  princi- 
ples both  of  conquest  and  purchase,  and  the  whole 
question  was  beset  with  difficulties. 

Much  perplexity  arose  from  indefinite  boundary 
lines,  and  it  was  almost  impossible  to  tell  where 
the  white  man's  land  began  and  the  Indians'  left 
off.  "  The  twenty-four  dollars  which  purchased 
New  York,  the  walking  purchase  with  which 
the  Quakers  bought  Pennsylvania,  and  other 
'bargains,'  were  considered  full  and  honest  set- 
tlement by  both  parties,  but  the  Indians  often 
thought  they  were  entitled  to  live  on  still  upon 
the  land  they  had  sold,  and  endless  complications 
arose." 

Usually  a  conquered  nation  becomes  a  part  of 
the  one  that  conquers  and  controls,  but  in  our 
history,  such  incorporation  was  impracticable  at 
first.  When  colonial  yielded  to  federal  govern- 
ment, the  great  final  wrong  done  to  the  Indian 
was  in  making  him  the  "  ward  of  the  nation,"  in 
making  treaties,  upon  this  basis  of  legal  fiction, 
and  in  breaking  these  treaties  as  fast  as  they  were 
made. 

Some  of  the  wrongs  which  have  weighted  the 
red  man's  burden  may  be  thus  enumerated: 

Government  has  promised  certain  reservations 


26      Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

and  privileges,  and  then  broken  its  solemn 
pledges.  The  withholding  of  the  purchase  money 
has  impoverished  many  tribes.  The  California 
Indian  Association  pleads  for  the  rights  of  four- 
teen thousand  landless  Indians  who  have  never 
received  one  dollar  for  their  ownership  of  one 
hundred  thousand  square  miles  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful country  in  the  world.  "The  breaking  of 
several  hundred  treaties,"  says  Mrs.  Helen  Hunt 
Jackson,  "  has  so  impaired  the  Indian's  confidence 
that  the  words  '  white  man '  are  to  him  synony- 
mous with  'liar';  the  result  is  an  irreparable 
wrong  to  his  nature  and  character." 

The  greed,  duplicity,  ignorance  and  criminal 
stupidity  of  Indian  agents  have  escaped  punish- 
ment and  borne  bitter  fruits.  The  condition  of 
the  Indians  has  been  even  worse  than  that  of 
slaves,  for  they  have  been  at  the  mercy  of  the 
agent,  who  could  order  the  guard  to  fire  upon 
them  if  he  wished. 

Indian  lands  have  been  unlawfully  occupied  by 
white  settlers,  who  have  greedily  despoiled  the 
natives. 

The  Indian  Bureau  has  been  a  political  machine, 
and  the  issue  of  supplies  to  Indians  has  pauper- 
ized them,  and  promoted  idleness  to  an  alarn/ng 
degree. 

During  this  "  century  of  dishonour "  the  Indian 
has  not  been  amenable  to  law,  as  are  others,  nor 
has  he  had  its  protection.  He  has  been  "the 
only  human  being  within  our  territory  who  has 
had  no  individual  right  and  title  to  the  soil." 


The  Red  Man's  Burden  27 

' '  The  whole  system  of  reservations, "  says  Dr.  C.  L. 
Thompson,  "is  simply  affording  'pens'  where 
about  three  hundred  thousand  natives  of  America 
have  been  provided  with  perpetual  savagery." 
Says  Dr.  Edward  Everett  Hale,  "Suppose  foreign- 
ers had  been  shut  within  reservations  until  they 
Americanized  themselves,  how  long  would  it 
take  ?  " 

The  Indian  wars  make  an  appalling  record. 
Massacres  have  been  so  frequent  that  it  is  said 
there  is  not  a  space  of  one  hundred  miles  between 
our  two  oceans  that  has  not  been  drenched  with 
blood.  Many  of  the  outbreaks  have  been  caused 
by  distrust  and  bad  faith,  as  when  the  Sioux  took 
the  war  path,  in  1862,  and  fell  upon  the  defense- 
less settlers  near  Mankato,  Minn.  They  were 
starving,  and  were  denied  promised  annuities. 
Two  thousand  of  these  Indians  were  taken  pris- 
oners, and  four  hundred  condemned  to  death,  of 
whom  all  but  thirty-eight  were  pardoned  by 
President  Lincoln.  This  war  of  subjection  cost 
our  government  $40,000,000.  It  was  caused 
largely  by  injustice  and  broken  promises. 

The  removal  of  the  Five  Civilized  Tribes— Cher- 
okees,  Choctaws,  Creeks,  Chickasaws  and  Semi- 
noles — seventy  years  ago,  from  Georgia  and 
vicinity  to  Indian  Territory,  is  a  story  of  wrong 
written  in  letters  of  fire.  They  went  under  pite- 
ous protest,  weeping  as  they  journeyed,  and 
dropping  into  roadside  graves  in  appalling  num- 
bers. Still  later,  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  with 
them  were  broken,  especially  that  regarding  the 


28      Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

exclusion  of  whites.  The  herdsmen  of  Texas, 
and  the  employees  upon  the  railroad  cutting  across 
the  territory,  were  tempted  to  take  possession  of 
the  fertile  tracts,  and  finally  three  hundred  thou- 
sand white  men,  with  varying  excuses,  became 
residents  of  the  territory. 

The  Pima  Indians  have  perhaps  been  most 
deeply  wronged  by  greed  and  ingratitude. 
These  Arizona  red  men  were  among  the  most 
industrious  and  peaceable  of  the  race,  a  self- 
supporting,  agricultural  people,  their  fertile 
farms  watered  by  the  Gila  River.  They  loyally 
supported  the  government  and  protected  white 
settlers,  during  the  war  with  Geronimo,  render- 
ing invaluable  service  and  saving  millions  of  dol- 
lars for  the  United  States  treasury.  Some  years 
ago  white  settlers  (colonies  of  Mormons)  began 
to  divert  the  waters  of  the  river,  finally  turning 
the  fruitful  fields  into  arid  wastes.  From  self- 
support  the  Pimas  have  been  reduced  almost  to 
vagabonds,  subsisting  upon  government  rations, 
but  chafing  under  the  bonds  of  such  beggary. 

Government  has  often  attempted  relief,  but 
red  tape  has  strangled  the  measures.  President 
Roosevelt  has  appointed  a  commission  whose 
report  may  become  action  in  the  not-distant  fu- 
ture. Pumping  stations  in  the  desert  may  again 
insure  self-support,  but  the  stolen  waters  still 
flood  the  farms  of  the  river  thieves. 

The  piteous  tale  of  the  Mission  Indians,  of 
California,  has  another  heartbreak  in  it.  This 
term  dates  back  over  a  hundred  years,  to  the 


The  Red  Man's  Burden  29 

time  of  the  Franciscan  Fathers  who  gathered  the 
Indians  in  their  missions.  The  descendants  of 
these  natives  are  still  known  by  the  old,  distinc- 
tive name. 

In  1830  there  were  from  twenty  to  thirty  thou- 
sand of  these,  gathered  in  twenty-one  missions, 
and  living  industrious  and  comfortable  lives. 
The  Mexican  government,  then  having  jurisdic- 
tion, planned  a  humane  policy,  but  it  failed  in 
administration  through  greed  and  fraud.  Dis- 
possessed of  their  rich  acres,  the  Indians  were  a 
demoralized  and  drunken  people  when  they 
came  as  a  legacy  to  our  government  on  its 
taking  possession  of  California.  Their  injuries, 
instead  of  being  redressed,  accumulated,  and 
now  there  is  but  a  remnant  left  to  receive  pos- 
sible atonement  for  continued  wrongs. 

According  to  a  report  made  by  Hon.  B.  D. 
Wilson,  of  Los  Angeles,  these  Indians  were 
treated,  at  the  time  they  came  under  our  flag, 
with  a  severity  which  outraged  their  keen  sense 
of  justice.  "  The  Indian,"  he  says,  "  cannot  see 
why  he  is  sold  out  to  service  for  an  indefinite 
period  for  intemperance  (as  is  the  case  after 
imprisoning  the  intoxicated  natives)  while  the 
white  man  goes  unpunished  for  the  same  thing, 
and  the  very  best  and  richest,  to  his  eye,  are 
such  as  tempt  him  to  drink,  and  sometimes  pay 
him  for  his  labour  in  no  other  way."  "  Woe  unto 
him  by  whom  offenses  come,"  but,  alas!  the 
curse  does  not  deliver  from  woe  those  who  are 
"offended." 


30       Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

Of  all  unspeakable  outrages  upon  Indians,  the 
white  man's  saloon  is  one  that  rouses  in  true 
hearts  the  pulse-beats  of  pity  and  of  fiery  indig- 
nation. 

Why  do  such  blots  of  dishonour  and  broken 
faith,  and  the  blood-drops  of  a  wronged  and 
hunted  race,  darken  the  pages  of  a  by-gone 
century's  story  ?  Because  of  indifference,  rather 
than  of  intention.  "I  don't  care  "  is  called  the 
crudest  phrase  in  the  English  language.  Until 
the  dominant  people  do  care  and  clamour,  how 
can  we  expect  atonement  or  reform  ? 

In  1862,  Bishop  Whipple,  of  Minnesota,  went 
to  Washington  to  lay  before  the  authorities  the 
causes  of  the  Indian  massacre  which  had  deso- 
lated the  state.  After  his  vain  pleading  for  re- 
dress, Secretary  Stanton  said  to  a  friend,  "  What 
does  the  Bishop  want  ?  If  he  came  here  to  tell  us 
that  our  Indian  system  is  a  sink  of  iniquity,  tell 
him  we  all  know  it.  Tell  him  the  United  States 
never  cures  a  wrong  until  the  people  demand  it; 
and  when  the  hearts  of  the  people  are  reached, 
the  Indian  will  be  saved." 

It  is  strange,  yet  true,  that  tragic  fact  often 
makes  less  impression  than  pathetic  fiction. 
The  story  of  the  cruel  murder  of  a  demented 
Mission  Indian,  actually  shot  because  he  had  un- 
wittingly exchanged  horses  with  a  ranchman, 
seems  commonplace.  It  is  thrilling  when  it  is 
Alessandro  who  is  killed  in  his  mountain  home, 
and  the  beautiful  Ramona  with  her  baby  runs 
frantically  to  the  village,  with  the  tale  of  horror. 


The  Red  Man's  Burden  31 

Honour  to  the  woman-heart  of  the  writer  of 
"A  Century  of  Dishonour,"  who,  finding  the 
true  tale  received  as  a  freak  of  feminine  fancy, 
wrote  Ramona,  "  racked  as  in  a  struggle  with  an 
outside  power,"  and  roused  indifferent  souls  to 
quick  response. 

Whose  was  the  right  and  the  wrong  ? 
Sing  it,  O  funeral  song, 

With  a  voice  that  is  full  of  tears. 
And  say  that  our  broken  faith 
Wrought  all  this  ruin  and  scathe, 

In  the  Year  of  a  Hundred  Years. 

— Longfellow. 

INDIAN  RIGHTS 

Indian  Rights  Associations  have  multiplied 
throughout  our  land.  The  red  man's  rights, 
inherent,  legal  and  moral,  are  recognized  as 
never  before.  The  growth  in  public  opinion 
has  been  marvellous.  What  are  these  rights  ? 

Justice,  legal  protection  and  appeal,  individual 
title  to  land,  security  in  person  and  property 
against  lawless  white  men,  payment  of  the  pur- 
chase-price of  land  surrendered  by  him,  and, 
according  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
"  Life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness." 

Says  Dr.  Lyman  Abbott,  "No  treaty  can  give 
the  right  to  hold  land  in  unproductive  idleness. 
No  nation  can  consecrate  territory  to  ignorance 
and  vice.  The  remedy  is  to  abolish  reservations 
and  treat  the  Indian  not  as  a  red  man  but  as  a 
man.  Let  him  manage  his  own  affairs  and  take 


32       Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

his  chances.  His  relation  to  government  should 
be  the  same  as  that  of  any  other  man.  Any 
other  theory  than  that  of  local  self-government 
is  unworkable.  When  a  boy  can  learn  to  skate 
without  going  near  the  ice,  then  can  an  Indian 
learn  to  live  without  living." 

The  Lake  Mohonk  Conference  suggests  that 
the  right  of  citizenship  be  conferred  upon  the 
Indian  only  so  soon  as  he  is  fitted  for  it,  and  this 
commends  itself  to  all  right-minded  people. 
"Since  the  Indian  has  refused  to  fade  out,"  says 
a  recent  magazine  writer,  "  there  is  but  one  alter- 
native—to make  a  citizen  of  him,  or  fit  him  for 
it.  The  possibility  and  opportunity  of  self-sup- 
port inspires  hope  and  manhood  in  the  Indian's 
breast,  but  eternal  vigilance  is  the  price  of  Indian 
rights  as  well  as  of  white  men's  liberty." 

A  leaflet  now  in  print  makes  the  Indian  pa- 
poose, strapped  upon  his  mother's  back,  facing 
the  road  she  leaves  behind  her,  a  pathetic  type  of 
the  red  race  to-day,  "looking  backward,"  with 
no  glimpse  along  the  opening  way.  The  Indian 
has  a  divinely-given  right  to  the  forward-look,  the 
upward-look,  and,  please  God,  he  shall  face  a 
different  future  soon,  for  the  things  concerning 
him  are  at  their  turn. 


PROGRESS    IN    LEGISLATION    AND    ADMINISTRA- 
TION 

Public  opinion,  at  last  aroused,  sympathetic, 
and  clamorous,  has  prevailed.  Who  shall  say 
how  much  the  work  of  the  missionaries  has  had 


The  Red  Man's  Burden  33 

to  do  with  this  ?  Government,  which  is  "  of  the 
people,  by  the  people  and  for  the  people,"  has 
wrestled  with  the  Indian  problem  to  better  pur- 
pose than  before,  and  better  policy  and  adminis- 
tration, born  of  necessity,  indeed,  have  obtained 
almost  everywhere.  Rev.  Edgerton  Young,  of 
the  well-known  Canada  Mission,  pays  this  trib- 
ute: 

"By  right-thinking  people,  General  Grant  de- 
serves ever  to  be  held  in  kindly  remembrance  for 
his  '  peace  policy.'  When  so-called  friends  urged 
him  to  alter  it,  his  reply  was  characteristic  of  the 
man  and  worthy  to  be  remembered:  'If  the 
present  policy  towards  the  Indians  can  be  im- 
proved in  any  way,  I  will  always  be  ready  to  re- 
ceive suggestions  upon  the  subject.  I  do  not 
believe  our  Creator  ever  placed  different  races 
upon  this  earth  with  a  view  to  having  the 
stronger  exert  all  his  energies  in  the  extermina- 
tion of  the  weaker.  If  any  change  takes  place  in 
the  Indian  policy  of  the  government  while  I  hold 
my  present  office,  it  will  be  on  the  humanitarian 
side  of  the  question.'  " 

What  is  known  as  the  Dawes  Commission, 
from  the  name  of  its  chairman,  Hon.  Henry  L. 
Dawes,  shows  the  present  highwater  mark  of 
legislative  progress.  The  immediate  cause  of  the 
appointment  of  this  commission  was  the  menace 
to  the  public  peace  in  the  condition  of  affairs  in 
Indian  Territory,  where  not  only  were  the  In- 
dians without  legal  status  and  protection,  but 
white  refugees  from  justice  could  riot  be  followed 


34      Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

by  warrants  of  arrest,  and  no  provision  was  made 
for  extradition. 

The  principal  changes  wrought  by  the  Dawes 
Commission  are  the  allotment  of  lands  in  sever- 
alty  (one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  homestead, 
and  inalienable  for  twenty-five  years),  the  substi- 
tution of  United  States  courts  and  laws  for  those 
existent,  and  the  federal  control  of  schools.  It 
ceases  to  exist  in  March,  1906,  the  date  set  for 
the  extinction  of  tribal  relations  among  the  In- 
dians. The  consent  of  the  Indians  to  this  ex- 
tinction, an  indispensable  factor,  has  been  some- 
what difficult  to  obtain. 

To  the  astonishment  of  the  commission,  many 
people  apparently  white  became  suddenly  anxious 
to  prove  their  Indian  blood  upon  the  proposal  to 
allot  the  valuable  land.  At  the  close  of  1904, 
four  hundred  and  eighty-four  allotments  had 
been  approved  and  seven  hundred  and  ninety-six 
"patents"  delivered  to  Indians.  It  has  been 
found  that  the  Indians  thus  allotted  lands  must 
also  be  protected  against  wily  speculators  and 
against  their  own  habits  of  idleness  which  tempt 
them  to  lease  the  land,  or  to  sell  it  and  live  riot- 
ously for  a  season  upon  the  proceeds. 

Large  sums  of  money  have  been  appropriated 
for  the  irrigation  of  Indian  lands,  and  a  beginning 
has  been  made  in  relieving  the  distress  of  the 
Pimas.  The  chairman  of  the  commission  reports 
progress  to  the  full  extent  that  could  be  expected, 
and  prophesies  advance  in  the  future  and  peace 
among  all,  adding,  "Geronimo  himself  has  be- 


The  Red  Man's  Burden  35 

come  a  teacher  of  peace."  The  present  trend  of 
government  treatment  of  the  red  race  is  towards 
the  recognition  of  the  individual,  the  reduction  of 
the  number  receiving  rations,  and  the  payment  of 
cash,  in  discreet  amounts,  for  surrendered  lands. 

"Among  the  five  civilized  tribes,  thirty-two 
towns  have  been  surveyed  and  platted  during  the 
year,"  says  the  report  for  1904,  "  and  the  issuance 
of  bonds  for  water  works  by  eight,  has  been 
approved." 

The  government  recognition  that  the  rights  of 
the  Pueblo  Indians  in  New  Mexico  are  absolute, 
has  been  maintained,  and  recommendations  in 
their  behalf,  looking  towards  betterment  of  con- 
dition, have  been  submitted. 

These  tokens  of  successful  advance  quicken 
thanksgiving,  and  stimulate  to  new  endeavour. 
According  to  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  "Laws  and 
institutions  are  constantly  tending  to  gravitate. 
Like  clocks,  they  must  be  occasionally  cleaned, 
wound  up,  and  set  to  true  time." 

Let  us  give  thanks  that  our  government  seems 
now  ready  to  wind  the  clocks.  But  between  the 
hour-bells  of  the  legal  time-piece,  who  will  be 
neighbour  to  the  red  man,  with  his  burden  ? 
Love's  minute-hand  will  mark  the  moment. 


FAGOTS  OF  FACTS 

"As  long  ago  as  1724,  Father  Gamier,  who  lived  for  sixty 
years  among  the  Indians,  thus  described  them  :  « They  are 
possessed  of  sound  judgment,  lively  imagination  and  wonderful 
memory.  They  are  high-minded  and  proud,  with  courage,  in- 


36      Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

trepid  valour,  heroic  constancy,  and  a  composure  which  would 
exceed  our  patience.  Towards  strangers  they  exercise  a 
hospitality  which  might  put  Europeans  to  the  blush.'  " 

A  French  missionary  wrote :  "  I  admit  that  their  habits  and 
customs  are  barbarous  in  a  thousand  ways,  but  after  all,  in  mat- 
ters which  they  consider  wrong,  we  see  less  criminality  than  in 
France,  though  here  the  only  punishment  of  crime  is  the  shame 
of  having  committed  it." 


Evidence  that  the  Indians  were  not  without  religion  goes 
back  as  far  as  1587.  Thomas  Hariot,  an  employee  of  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh,  writes  of  the  Virginia  Indians  :  "  Theye  beleeve  that 
there  are  many  gods,  which  theye  call  Mantaoc,  but  of  different 
sorts  and  degrees ;  one  onley  chief,  and  Great  God,  which  hath 
been  from  all  eternitie." 

"  In  general,"  says  another  writer,  "  a  day  seldom  passes 
with  an  elderly  Indian,  or  others  esteemed  wise  and  good,  in 
which  a  blessing  is  not  asked,  or  thanks  returned  to  the  Giver 
of  life,  sometimes  audibly,  but  more  generally  in  the  devotional 
language  of  the  heart." 


"  Gen.  H.  Sibley  once  said  to  Bishop  Whipple,  that  for 
thirty  years  it  had  been  the  uniform  boast  of  the  Sioux,  that 
they  had  never  taken  the  life  of  a  white  man." 


The  industrial  ability  and  diligence  of  the  Indian  is  illus- 
trated among  the  sorely-tried  Mission  Indians  of  Warner's 
Ranch,  eighty  miles  inland  from  San  Diego,  where  covetous 
white  men  have  decreed  that  they  shall  be  evicted  from  the 
well-watered  lands  affording  self-support.  The  government 
gives  these  Indians  nothing  but  the  support  of  the  school.  The 
women  are  expert  in  the  making  of  baskets,  some  of  these 
bringing  thirty  dollars  apiece.  "  During  a  period  of  fourteen 
months,  Mrs.  Rabbitt,  the  school-teacher,  a  woman  of  rare  abil- 


The  Red  Man's  Burden  37 

ity  and  devotion  to  her  charges,  has  disposed  of  eighteen  hun- 
dred dollars'  worth  of  cocoa  mats  alone.  Nearly  all  the  men 
own  separate  fields  and  raise  more  than  enough  for  their  own 
tables." 


"  It  is  a  religion  to  make  a  Navajo  blanket.  A  blanket  is  all 
a  prayer,  a  human  document,  a  biography  bright  with  the  joy 
tints  of  canary  yellow,  dark  with  the  olive  green  of  pain.  One 
is  strangely  moved  to  both  laughter  and  tears  by  its  exquisitely 
variant  colours,  each  expressing  an  emotion,  by  its  warmth  of 
blended  fibers,  each  throbbing  to  a  note  of  triumph  or  of  woe." 


Sitting  Bull,  the  Sioux  chief,  replying  to  the  commission  sent 
to  treat  with  him  in  Canada,  said,  "  For  sixty-four  years  you 
have  kept  me  and  my  people  and  have  treated  us  bad.  I  did 
not  give  you  the  country,  but  you  followed  me  from  one  place 
to  another,  so  I  had  to  leave  and  come  here.  This  house  is  a 
medicine  house.  I  intend  to  stay  here.  That  is  enough,  so  no 
more.  The  part  of  the  country  you  gave  me,  you  ran  me  out 
of.  I  wish  you  to  go  back  and  to  take  it  easy,  going  back." 


The  Apaches  were  frequently  upon  the  war-path,  the  last 
time  being  in  1885-6.  The  final  surrender  was  to  General 
Miles,  the  lamented  General  Lawton  playing  an  important  part 
in  the  campaign.  "  One  hardly  knows  which  to  admire  more, 
the  wonderful  endurance  of  the  American  soldiers,  or  the 
craftiness  and  generalship  of  those  few  warriors,  under  Geron- 
imo  and  others,  beating  a  retreat  to  far-away  mountains  in 
Mexico,  carrying  with  them  wives,  children,  and  means  of  sus- 
tenance." 


Our  treatment  of  the  Indians  in  times  of  peace  has  been  as 
little  complimentary  to  us  as  our  treatment  of  them  in  war. 
The  supreme  folly  of  much  of  our  military  conduct  in  dealing 
with  them  is  symbolized  by  the  summary  of  General  Grant,  of 


38      Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

one  of  our  Indian  campaigns :  "  We  spent  six  millions  of  dol- 
lars and  killed  six  Indians."  In  too  many  instances  the  gospel 
of  bullets  has  been  preached  more  loudly  than  the  Gospel  of 
Love.— 7.  T.  Gracey. 


"  The  Osages  are  the  richest  people  per  capita,  on  earth, 
possessing  $15,000  each.  Government  holds  their  lands,  re- 
ceives the  money  from  rents,  and  gives  them  certain  amounts 
annually.  As  a  rule,  these  Indians  are  not  producers." 


The  Chilocco  Indian  Training-School  in  Oklahoma  has  over 
eight  hundred  pupils,  representing  all  the  tribes  in  Oklahoma 
and  Indian  Territory.  It  has  its  own  water  works,  electric  light 
plant  and  other  modern  improvements,  and  is  maintained  at  a 
cost  of  $60,000  a  year.  It  is  said  that  the  equipment  is  equal 
to  that  of  the  Carlisle  school. 


Students  of  the  Training-Schools  returning  to  the  old  camps 
are  often  forced  to  meet  almost  intolerable  ridicule.  Their  citi- 
zen's dress  and  acquired  English  are  laughed  at  by  the  young 
squaws,  and  sometimes  the  blanket  is  resumed  in  consequence. 
It  is  a  hard  test,  and  thoughtful  persons  deprecate  the  return 
of  the  students  to  their  homes.  They  should  not,  however,  be 
cut  off  from  all  family  intercourse,  else  how  shall  the  camps  be 
brought  in  contact  with  a  Christian  civilization  ?  It  is  a  dif- 
ficult problem,  but "  Wisdom  is  profitable  to  direct." 


On  the  reservations,  children  must  now  go  to  the  public 
schools  at  the  age  of  six.  In  some  cases  rations  are  withheld 
if  this  regulation  is  disregarded. 

A  letter  from  a  minister  having  official  connection  with  a 
Home  Mission  Board,  states  that  in  Oklahoma  young  chil- 
dren are  not  taken  from  their  parents  without  due  consent,  but 


The  Red  Man's  Burden  39 

that  the  children  in  camp  are  often  ill-clothed,  ill-fed,  and  cov- 
ered with  sores,  and  it  is  a  mercy  to  them  to  put  them  in 
schools  where  they  will  be  better  cared  for  and  taught. 

Incidents  of  different  kinds  come  from  different  parts  of  the 
country,  and  abuses  in  one  place  do  not  exist  in  another.  The 
tolerant  spirit  will  take  all  phases  and  all  reports  into  considera- 
tion in  forming  a  general  opinion. 


Some  well-meant  efforts  to  civilize  the  Indians  have  proved 
futile  in  an  astonishing  manner.  Some  time  ago,  we  are  cred- 
ibly informed,  our  paternal  government  sent  a  quantity  of  cook - 
stoves  down  into  the  Indian  country,  but  neglected  to  provide 
any  means  of  teaching  the  squaws  their  use.  The  native  cooks 
built  fires  in  the  ovens;  the  stoves  smoked,  and  were  sum- 
marily thrown  out  of  tepee  or  cabin,  "  and  that  was  the  last  of 
modern  cooking  in  those  camps." 


A  MESSAGE  FROM  THE  WORD 

To  OPEN  THEIR  EYES 

Who  has  blinded  ?  (The  god  of  this  world)  2  Cor.  4 :  4. 

The  Message  (Say  ye     .     .     .)  Isaiah  35  :  4. 

Then  (Result)  Isaiah  35  :  5,  6. 

Who  opens  the  eyes  ?  (One  who  can)  Isaiah  42  :  6,  7. 

Through  what?  (Tender  mercy)  Luke  I  :  78,  79. 
Who  is  Light  for  open 

eyes?  (Jesus)  John  8:  12. 

What  follows  ?  (Enlightenment)  Ephesians  I  :  18. 

What  then  ?  (Children  of  the  day)  I  Thess.  5  :  5. 
The    mission    of  those 

with  open  eyes.  (To  open  eyes)  Acts  26 :  18. 

Paul's  example.  (Not  disobedient)  Acts  26  :  19. 

Prayer  for  ourselves:  (for  opened  eyes)  Psalm  119  :  18. 

Prayer  for  others.  (Lord,  open  the  eyes  of  these  that  they 
may  see)  2  Kings  6  :  20. 


40      Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

MEMORY  GEMS 

To  be  given  out  beforehand,  memorized,  and  repeated  in 
closing  the  Bible  Reading. 

Life,  like  a  fountain  rich  and  free 

Springs  from  the  presence  of  my  Lord; 

And  in  Thy  light  our  souls  shall  see 
The  glories  promised  in  Thy  Word. 

—Isaac  Watts. 

O  Christ,  the  Eternal  Light 

Of  every  sun  and  sphere ! 
Illumine  Thou  our  mortal  night 

And  keep  our  spirits  clear. 

— S.  W.  Duffield,  tr. 

By  the  thorn-road,  and  no  other, 

Is  the  mount  of  vision  won ; 
Tread  it  without  shrinking,  brother, 

Jesus  trod  it ;  press  thou  on. 

— Samuel  Johnson. 

Open  our  eyes  Thy  love  to  see, 

Then  send  us  on  Thine  errands  sweet, 

Blind  eyes  to  open,  souls  to  free  — 
Lord,  may  we  haste,  with  willing  feet 

MEMORY  TEST 

1.  Give  different  theories  of  Indian  origin.     Which  is  gen- 
erally accepted  ?     What  difficulties  are  in  the  way  of  settling 
the  matter  ? 

2.  What  part  has  the  tribal  relation  in  the  Indian  problem  ? 
Give   approximate    figures   of  population,    and   compare  with 
those  of  immigrants. 

3.  Describe  totemism,  its  significance  and  influence. 

4.  Give  briefly,  the  physical,  mental,  social   and  business 
characteristics  of  the  native  Americans. 


The  Red  Man's  Burden  41 

5.  Give   account   of  Sequoyah   and   describe    Indian   lan- 
guages. 

6.  Is  the  Indian  race  naturally  religious  ?     Illustrate. 

7.  Give  the  Indians'  story  in  two  words,  and  ours  in  three ; 
give  the  early,  universal  rulings  regarding  rights  of  discovery, 
conquest,  and  occupancy. 

8.  Mention  some  of  the  wrongs  against  the  Indian,  and 
describe  the  defects,  and  dire  effects  of  the  reservation  system. 

9.  Give  the  story  of  the  Pimas  and  of  the  Mission  Indians. 
How  have  white  men  encroached  upon  their  rights  ? 

10.  What  are  the  rights  of  the  Indians  ?     Do  they  differ 
from  those  of  others,  and  if  so,  how  ?     Show  how  moral  stand- 
ards limit  the  legal. 

11.  What  progress  has  been  made  in  legislation  and  what 
has  effected  the  change  ? 

12.  Give  the  occasion,  date,  scope  and  work  of  the  Dawes 
Commission. 

13.  Give  individual  opinion  as  to  what  is  most  bitter  in  the 
red  man's  burden. 


THE  EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEM 


REMOVE  THE  SEAL 

Remove  the  seal  from  thy  compassion's  spring 
And  let  the  water  for  the  pilgrims  flow  — 
Of  the  world's  waste,  the  sons  of  want  and  woe ! 

Though  their  exhausted  frames  affliction  wring, 

And  hunger,  nakedness,  the  sting 

Of  sharp  disease  and  bitter  bonds  they  know, 
Yet  they  are  "  brethren  " — H  i  to  call  them  so 

Vouchsafes — the  brethren  of  thy  Lord  and  King. 

A  day  will  come  when  thou,  before  His  throne, 
Those  sons  of  woe  with  lively  thoughts  must  see 

Of  joy  or  anguish.     Then  shall  far  be  shown 
The  alms  in  secret  done :  and  publicly 

A  voice  proclaim,  "  Each  act  of  mercy  done 
To  these,  My  brethren,  has  been  done  for  Me." 

— Bishop  Richard  Mant, 


II 

THE  EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEM 

FOR  the  building  of  true  character,  "other 
foundation  can  no  man  lay  than  that  is 
laid,  which  is  Jesus  Christ."     But  educa- 
tion is  a  strong  bulwark,  an  essential  fortification, 
to  be  reared  upon  this  "tried  stone,  and  chief 
cornerstone."    This  fact  is  patent;  how  to  ac- 
complish the  end  is  the  problem. 

ABILITIES 

In  the  matter  of  Indian  education,  the  question 
of  native  ability  is  a  primary  consideration.  What 
material  does  the  race  furnish,  after  these  de- 
structive years  ?  The  Indian  of  romance  and  an- 
cient song  is  not  the  pupil  in  the  school  to-day. 

Says  the  Rev.  Dwight  M.  Pratt,  D.  D.,  "We 
are  apt  to  underestimate  the  capacity  of  the  non- 
Christian  races.  It  has  taken  the  Christian  Church 
a  long  time  to  outgrow  its  unbelief." 

Now  and  then  an  Indian  of  such  native  ability  is 
discovered  as  to  prove  that  even  without  advan- 
tages of  secular  education,  a  devout  spirit  may 
accomplish  much.  David  Many  Bulls,  a  Dakota 
Indian  of  Standing  Rock  Reservation,  a  helper  un- 
der The  American  Missionary  Association,  was 
called  one  of  the  very  best  the  society  had  ever 
had,  and  yet  he  never  went  to  school  a  day  in  his 
life. 

45 


46      Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

Professor  M'Clatchie,  of  Government  Experi- 
ment Station,  writing  from  observation  of  the 
Pimas,  Papagoes,  Apaches,  and  other  tribes,  re- 
marks, "  The  Indian  race  is  intermediate  between 
the  white  and  African  race.  He  is  not  only 
superior  intellectually  to  the  African,  but  his  dis- 
position and  mode  of  life  make  him  more  inde- 
pendent." 

Prof.  George  Blount,  of  Phoenix  High  School, 
writes,  "All  honour  to  the  first  missionaries 
to  the  Indians,  through  whom  we  have  dis- 
covered that  the  Indian  is  a  human  being,  like 
ourselves  in  every  endowment.  He  has  all  the 
intellectual  powers  of  the  white  man,  with  a 
moral  nature  identical  with  ours  and  a  soul  that 
must  live  through  eternity.  Education  is  devel- 
opment only — teachers  create  nothing.  It  is, 
then,  a  matter  of  great  encouragement  to  know 
that  in  the  Indian  boy  and  girl  are  all  the  latent 
powers  that  we  find  in  the  white  child,  and  that 
these  powers  respond  to  stimulation  and  grow 
precisely  the  same  in  both  cases.  Be  encouraged, 
fellow-teachers.  You  work  upon  no  mean  ma- 
terial, and  you  labour  for  eternity." 

The  Indian's  memory  is  exceedingly  retentive, 
and  his  logical  powers  are  in  frequent  evidence. 
Suppose  he  is  stolid,  he  is  also  solid,  and  there  is 
something  to  work  upon.  The  native  aptitude 
for  industrial  education  is  especially  noteworthy. 
"It  is  safer  to  leave  them  alone  with  their  work 
than  to  leave  white  boys." 

One  who  has  made  a  special  study,  under  gov- 


The  Educational  Problem  47 

ernment  auspices,  of  Indian  ability,  says  that 
the  Indian,  being  "  too  independent  by  nature 
for  menial  service,  disliking  to  work  for  white 
men,  longing  for  companionship  of  his  own  peo- 
ple," is  especially  adapted  to  farm  life  upon  his 
own  allotted  land;  and  "  agriculture  should  have 
first  place"  in  his  training. 

DISABILITIES 

These,  of  course,  are  physical,  mental  and 
moral,  and  lie  upon  the  surface  for  every  observant 
eye  to  see.  The  deadening  effect  of  superstition, 
of  injustice,  of  withheld  opportunity,  of  antag- 
onism to  the  dominant  race,  the  degrading  influ- 
ence of  drunkenness  and  other  vices,  the  wild 
and  wandering  life  of  past  generations,  all  mili- 
tate against  regular  habits  of  study,  concentrated 
thought,  and  appreciation  of  education's  charm 
and  value. 

These  disabilities  vary  everywhere,  as  do  the 
positive  mental  endowments  of  our  red  neigh- 
bours. 

POSSIBILITIES 

Again  and  again  in  different  Indian  tongues  is 
the  assertion  repeated,  "We  not  want  to  be 
white  men;  we  want  to  be  Indians." 

But  the  possibilities  of  the  red  race,  as  such, 
are  full  of  promise  and  power.  "The  good  In- 
dian," says  John  Willis  Baer,  "  is  not  a  dead  In- 
dian but  a  live  Indian,  aflame  with  the  spirit  of 
Christ.  He  is  a  new  creature."  When  Christian 
education  has  wrought  its  work  upon  the  rising 


48      Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

and  the  coming  generations,  who  can  measure 
the  advance  ? 

So  far  as  the  secular  education  of  government 
schools  is  concerned,  the  opportunities  are  in- 
creasingly ample,  and  the  Indians  themselves, 
when  they  come  into  their  own,  will  be  abun- 
dantly able  to  make  desirable  opportunities  pos- 
sible. It  is  asserted  that  the  Indians  now  have  in 
the  vaults  of  the  United  States  treasury  about 
$240,000,000;  if  this  were  bestowed  upon  them 
as  a  separate  nation,  they  would  constitute,  per 
capita,  the  wealthiest  people  upon  the  face  of  the 
earth. 

The  possibilities  may  be  thus  summed  up: 
Enlightenment,  citizenship,  self-support,  useful- 
ness, through  the  proper  solution  of  the  educa- 
tional problem,  with  Christianization  as  the  ulti- 
mate aim.  The  Indian  cannot  remain  a  roving 
barbarian,  antagonizing  American  civilization. 
The  latter  type  must  prevail,  and  will.  Even 
Geronimo,  the  Apache  chief,  confesses,  "The 
day  of  the  Indian  as  an  Indian  is  past.  He  must 
fall  into  the  lines  of  the  life  of  the  pale  face  and 
adopt  his  civilization." 

"In  some  districts  of  Dakota,"  writes  Dr. 
George  Lawrence  Spinning,  "the  Congressional 
elections  turn  on  the  Indian  vote,  and  'Poor  Lo,' 
the  former  red  devil,  has  now  become  'Mr.  Lo,' 
a  man  in  the  eyes  of  the  politician,  and  his  wife 
has  become  Mrs.  Lo,  instead  of  the  bedraggled 
squaw  she  used  to  be."  One  cannot  fully  esti- 
mate the  possibilities  of  such  access  of  civiliza- 


The  Educational  Problem  49 

tion,  possibilities  both  of  peril  and  of  progress, 
for  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lo. 

GOVERNMENT  SCHOOLS 

Senator  Dawes,  the  wise  and  faithful  friend  of 
the  Indian,  writing  in  The  Atlantic  Monthly,  re- 
marks upon  the  process  of  "elimination  and  ex- 
periment by  which  ephemeral  and  ineffective 
methods  have  given  way  to  one  which  has  at- 
last  come  to  hold  undivided  public  support  for  a- 
time  long  enough  to  test  its  efficacy."  The  three 
essential  features  of  this  policy  are  enumerated 
thus:  "Breaking  down  of  tribal  relations  and 
granting  land  in  severally,  provision  from  United 
States  treasury  to  secure  to  every  child  that  will 
receive  it,  the  fundamentals  of  an  industrial  and 
literary  education,  and  prospective  citizenship  for 
all  accepting  homestead  grants."  The  second  of 
these  three  particulars,  involves  Indian  education 
by  the  government.  The  first  appropriation  for 
this  purpose— in  1877— was  $20,000.  In  1903  the 
appropriation  was  three  and  a  half  millions,  or 
one  hundred  and  seventy-five  times  as  much  as 
the  first.  This  money  was  voted  in  order  to 
build  and  maintain  250  schools.  For  the  year 
1904,  the  amount  spent  for  the  education  of  In- 
dians was  four  million  dollars,  in  round  numbers, 
all  but  about  six  hundred  thousand  being  the  gift 
of  the  government. 

BOARDING  SCHOOLS 

There  are  about  ninety  boarding  schools,  sixty- 
one  being  located  in  twenty-one  states,  and 


50      Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

twenty-nine  in  three  territories.  Here  about 
eighteen  thousand  Indian  children  are  lodged, 
fed,  clothed  and  taught,  free  of  expense.  But  in 
order  to  fill  these  schools  there  has  been  a  mis- 
taken policy  in  the  past,  according  to  many  of 
the  most  thoughtful  and  interested  friends  of  the 
red  men.  Compulsion  has  been  used  to  secure 
pupils,  and  children,  even  at  the  tender  age  of 
five  years,  have  been  forcibly  taken  from  unwill- 
ing and  outraged  parents,  often  with  the  saddest 
results  upon  both  sides.  The  argument  in  favour 
of  this  course  has  been  the  supposed  advantage 
of  complete  isolation  from  uncivilized  surround- 
ings. The  argument  against  it  is  that  it  violates 
the  laws  of  nature  and  humanity. 

In  view  of  the  passionate  protests  of  parents  and 
friends,  and  the  failure  to  secure  expected  advan- 
tage, the  plan  of  forcibly  filling  the  "  non-reserva- 
tion schools"  has  been  unpopular,  and  is  falling 
into  disuse.  In  its  place,  day-schools — now  num- 
bering about  one  hundred  and  thirty-five — are 
being  established  upon  the  reservations,  thus 
bringing  the  influences  of  civilization  and  educa- 
tion into  direct  contact  with  the  homes.  In  1903, 
there  were  35,000  Indian  children  of  school 
age,  28,000  being  enrolled  in  the  government 
schools  and  4,000  in  religious  denominational 
schools. 

In  these  government  schools  the  teachers  have 
marked  freedom  in  the  matter  of  teaching  the 
Bible— a  privilege  of  which  many  are  glad  to 
avail  themselves.  They  report  that  the  Indian 


The  Educational  Problem  51 

children  are  eager  to  hear  Bible  stones  and  to  re- 
ceive religious  teaching. 

The  most  important  schools  are  those  at  Hamp- 
ton, Virginia,  and  Carlisle,  Pennsylvania.  Hamp- 
ton Institute  was  designed  for  negroes  alone. 
But  in  1878  it  received  some  ex-prisoners  of  war, 
who,  though  originally  among  the  worst  of 
savages,  had  been  reached  by  Christian  influences 
while  confined  in  Fort  Marion.  The  success  at- 
tending this  effort  to  educate  and  civilize  the  In- 
dians led  to  further  reception  of  them  at  Hamp- 
ton and  to  the  opening  of  the  Training-School  at 
Carlisle.  Eighty-two  young  Sioux,  fresh  from 
the  reservation,  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  latter 
institution,  which  was  begun  by  Colonel  Pratt, 
with  his  wife  as  his  only  assistant.  With  heroic 
persistence  the  school  has  been  continued  until 
now  it  has  1,000  pupils,  from  seventy  tribes, 
including  some  Alaskans,  and  its  graduates  are 
numbered  by  thousands. 

Large  government  institutions  are  also  located 
at  Phoenix,  Arizona,  Chilocco,  Oklahoma,  and 
Riverside,  California,  the  one  at  Phoenix 
having  800  pupils,  from  twenty-nine  different 
tribes. 

"The  first  impulse  of  many  of  the  graduates 
from  these  higher  schools  is  to  help  others  of 
their  own  people.  If  one  will  take  the  trouble  to 
read  the  carefully-kept  records,  he  must  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  these  '  wards '  have  well  re- 
paid the  efforts  of  *  the  Great  Father  at  Washing- 
ton '  to  lift  them  from  an  estate  of  idleness,  dirt 


52       Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

and  poverty  to  one  of  industry,  cleanliness  and 
self-respect." 

NATIVE  SCHOOLS 

The  Cherokees  maintain  several  academies,  one 
high-school,  and  140  day-schools,  with  an  enroll- 
ment of  5,000  pupils,  at  an  annual  cost  of  $100,- 
ooo.  The  Creeks  have  ten  boarding-schools  and 
fifty-two  day-schools,  enrolling  2,700,  and  re- 
quiring an  annual  appropriation  of  $72,000.  The 
Choctaws  have  190  day-schools  and  five  acade- 
mies, with  an  enrollment  of  5,000,  costing  $i  13,- 
ooo.  The  Chickasaws  have  four  higher  institu- 
tions and  sixteen  day-schools,  an  enrollment  of 
1,000,  at  an  annual  cost  of  $85,000.  Thus  they 
substantiate  their  claim  to  be  considered  "civi- 
lized tribes." 

MISSION  SCHOOLS 

It  has  been  said  that  with  all  that  the  govern- 
ment has  done,  it  has  not,  after  all,  found  "the 
real  Indian,"  and  that  love,  the  supreme  need, 
cannot  be  met  by  legislation. 

The  mission  schools  have  done  more  than  sup- 
plement the  work  of  the  government  schools; 
they  have  supplied  what  could  not  otherwise 
be  given  in  personal  influence  and  direct  Bible 
teaching.  There  is  usually  little  prejudice  against 
these,  because  the  children  are  not  taken  from 
their  homes  by  force.  All  denominations  are  en- 
gaged in  this  important  and  fruitful  work.  In 
the  Indian  Territory  alone  twelve  distinct  relig- 


The  Educational  Problem  53 

ious  bodies  maintain  schools  of  a  high  order,  one 
of  the  oldest,  Dwight  Mission,  having  been 
founded  almost  seventy  years  ago. 

It  is  impossible  to  give  accurate  statistics  in 
connection  with  these  institutions,  or  even  a 
statement  of  the  aggregate  number  reached  and 
the  work  accomplished.  Much  has  been  achieved, 
but  the  work  is  not  yet  done.  There  are  still 
many  hundreds  of  Indian  children  to  whom  no 
school  at  all  is  opened,  and  to  whom  no  mis- 
sionary goes. 

We  have  no  human  methods  or  measurements 
whereby  to  compute  and  compare  the  results  of 
all  this  work  of  education  in  civilizing  and  Chris- 
tianizing our  Indian  neighbours.  If  they  could 
be  put  into  figures  at  all,  even  the  figures  could 
not  tell  the  whole  truth. 

At  present,  not  ten  thousand  of  the  nearly  three 
hundred  thousand  red  men  in  our  domain,  wear 
blankets  or  live  in  tepees.  Surely  this  is  an  evi- 
dence of  progress,  showing  the  uplifting  power 
of  education. 

SIDE  LIGHTS 

The  changes  in  twenty-five  years  have  been  marvellous.  As 
long  ago  as  that,  it  was  no  crime  for  a  white  man  to  kill  an 
Indian.  Now,  many  red  men  are  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  there  are  several  hundred  schools  among  them,  they 
are  engaged  in  various  trades  and  industries,  and  one  is  a  pro- 
fessor in  a  white  man's  college. 

Then,  there  were  sixty-one  agencies,  under  political  control ; 
now  there  are  less  than  twenty,  mostly  under  Civil  Service  rule, 
and  where  Indians  are  civilized,  agencies  are  abolished. — Mrs. 
Quinton,  of  the  Indian  Rights  Association. 


54       Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

The  Indian's  Friend  is  responsible  for  the  statement  that  a 
small  tribe  in  the  Indian  Territory,  the  Quapaws,  found  them- 
selves in  danger  through  the  illiteracy  of  the  whites  among 
them.  To  obviate  this  they  established  (in  1902)  a  public 
school  system,  maintaining  schools  for  six  months,  attended  by 
thirty-two  Indians  and  two  hundred  whites. 

The  Quapaws  paid  $1,000  towards  the  expenses.  The 
whites  were  expected  to  pay  a  tax  of  one  cent  an  acre  on 
lands  leased  from  the  Indians  and  one  dollar  per  annum  from 
each  labourer.  They  failed  to  do  this,  and  as  the  Indians 
could  not  meet  the  expense  alone  the  schools  were  closed. 
Comment  is  unnecessary. 

"  The  highest-salaried  woman  in  the  government  service  is 
Miss  Estelle  Reel,  whose  headquarters  are  at  Washington,  but 
who  spends  part  of  each  year  in  the  field  as  general  superin- 
tendent of  Indian  schools,  often  being  obliged  to  take  long 
horseback  rides  through  wild  regions.  Miss  Reel  believes  in 
industrial  training  and  visits  Indian  homes,  explaining  to  the 
people  what  kinds  of  native  work  will  command  the  best 
prices."  ..."  Indian  workers  [led  by  Miss  Reel]  feel 
that  henceforth  the  object  should  be  to  prepare  as  speedily  as 
possible  to  withdraw  all  government  paternalism  and  to  give 
the  Indian  the  American  citizen's  right  to  '  sink  or  swim,  sur- 
vive or  perish,1  leaving  the  responsibility  with  him." 

"  A  Winnebago  girl  who,  after  the  usual  schooling,  studied 
art  at  Smith  College  and  at  the  Drexel  Institute,  earning  her 
tuition  by  her  own  exertions,  and  then  opened  a  studio  in  New 
York,  where  she  has  won  an  honourable  place  in  the  ranks  of 
magazine  illustrators  and  writers,  is  a  convincing  refutation  of 
the  pessimistic  charge  of  worthlessness." 

The  Pawnees  are  now  United  States  citizens  with  all  the 
rights  of  citizens,  and  if  they  were  allowed  by  the  government 
to  exercise  these  rights,  that  is,  to  have  the  care  of  their  own 
affairs,  send  their  children  to  the  common  schools,  be  amenable 


The  Educational  Problem  55 

to  law  for  their  conduct,  like  other  citizens,  they  would  cease 
to  be  thought  of  as  Indians,  and  would  command  respect  as 
men.—  Woman's  Home  Missions. 


The  missionaries  say  that  scores  of  Indian  children  will 
never  go  to  school  unless  Christian  people  take  hold  of  them 
and  lovingly  "  compel  them  to  come  in  "  by  force  of  kindliness 
and  attractive  surroundings. 

A  party  of  Indians  in  California  went  to  an  Epworth  League 
convention,  and  after  coming  home,  several  expressed  a  wish 
for  the  privilege  of  going  to  the  training-school.  One  wanted 
to  go  at  once  into  something  in  the  city  which  would  keep  him 
busy  and  away  from  tribal  relations. 


Miss  Laura  M.  Cornelius,  an  Oneida  Indian  young  woman, 
has  given  up  her  position  as  teacher  in  an  Indian  school  to 
enter  a  law  school.  She  proposes  to  learn  law  in  order  that 
she  may  go  from  tribe  to  tribe,  teaching  her  people  their  rights 
under  the  white  man's  law  and  championing  their  cause  in  the 
courts  and  at  Washington.  She  has  studied  the  Indian  problem 
from  every  view-point,  and  to  her  it  is  a  sad  and  personal  one. 
"  The  time  has  come,"  she  says,  "  when  my  people  must  learn 
new  ways." 


The  St.  Regis  Indian  Reservation,  in  northern  New  York, 
borders  on  the  majestic  St.  Lawrence,  and  contains  some  four- 
teen thousand  acres  of  land.  There  are  about  thirteen  thousand 
St.  Regis  Indians,  so-called,  but  there  is  said  to  be  but  one  full- 
blooded  Indian  among  them,  and  many  cannot  be  distinguished 
from  white  people.  They  are  descended  from  the  Mohawks, 
speak  their  language  and  in  1888  were  adopted  into  the  Six 
Nations  in  place  of  the  Mohawks.  Six  schools  are  maintained, 
supported  by  the  state,  where  only  English  is  taught.  It  is 
said  that  in  point  of  morals,  these  Indians  are  superior  to  oth- 
ers. They  are  fine  singers  and  love  the  old  hymns. 


56       Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

Their   basket-work   is   exceptional   and   they  market  about 
$100,000  worth  each  year. 


"  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  government  is  now  spend- 
ing for  the  education  of  the  Indian  children  of  Arizona  as 
much  money  as  Arizona  is  spending  for  its  public  schools, 
which  is  no  small  sum  in  this  progressive  territory  where  the 
school  laws  are  in  advance  of  those  of  the  majority  of  the 
States.  The  Indians  are  followers  of  fashion  and  bow  down 
before  custom  and  precedent  and  tribal  public  opinion,  and 
when  a  sufficient  number  of  the  members  of  a  tribe  have  been 
educated  to  make  education  fashionable,  the  work  of  the  gov- 
ernment will  be  well  nigh  accomplished." 


The  Hon.  William  A.  Jones,  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs, 
said  at  the  Lake  Mohonk  Conference  of  Friends  of  the  Indian, 
in  1904,  "It  is  easier  to  tear  down  than  to  build  up,  but  I 
would  wind  up  the  Indian's  affairs  with  the  government  as 
soon  as  possible  and  turn  the  Indian  over  to  the  states  where 
he  belongs.  About  $3,000,000  was  spent  in  twenty-one  States 
and  $1,000,000  in  three  Territories  last  year,  most  of  it  govern- 
ment money,  for  Indian  education.  Is  not  this  paternalism 
gone  mad  ?  Must  a  distinctive  class  be  built  up,  for  which  gov- 
ernment shall  care  ?  When  is  this  to  stop  ?  Are  the  187,000 
of  a  distinctive  class  to  be  educated  free  of  expense  while  the 
rest  of  our  80,000,000  get  an  education  for  themselves?  I 
would  discontinue  the  non-reservation  boarding-schools  as  rap- 
idly as  possible,  all  but  two  or  three  to  be  devoted  to  training 
Indians  as  instructors  of  their  own  people,  and  I  would  in- 
crease the  day-schools. 

"  This  may  seem  radical,  but  it  is  the  result  of  eight  years' 
study  in  the  interest  of  the  red  man.  You  must  take  civiliza- 
tion to  him,  not  try  to  take  him  to  civilization.  The  child 
should  be  rightly  brought  up  in  the  home,  not  snatched  away. 
If  local  self-government  is  the  foundation  of  the  Republic,  local 
self-government  is  its  safety.  We  need  no  more  legislation.  If 


The  Educational  Problem  57 

there  was  ever  a  creature  more  law-ridden  than  the  Indian  I 
do  not  know  it.  If  there  is  to  be  any  more,  let  it  be  the  repeal 
of  some  Indian  laws,  and  let  all  have  the  same  weight  and  the 
same  measure." 

"  What  the  Indians  need  now,"  said  another  speaker, "  is  not 
charity  but  jus  tic*." 


"  A  new  danger  threatens,  in  the  use  of  trust  funds  for  secta- 
rian schools.  Recently  a  large  sum  was  granted  Romanists  on 
the  request  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  Indians,  many  of  whom 
could  only  sign  their  names  with  a  cross,  in  spite  of  the  protest 
of  six  hundred  who  could  write  their  names." 


THE  RESULT  OF  A  PRIVATE  SETTLEMENT 
WORK 

In  the  early  days  of  California  history,  the  late  General  Bid- 
well  bought  for  a  homestead  a  very  large  tract  of  land  near 
Chico,  upon  which  lived  a  company  of  Indians.  A  village  was 
built  for  these  people  upon  the  immense  estate,  and  a  chapel 
added.  For  many  years  General  and  Mrs.  Bidwell  have  lived 
among  their  red  neighbours,  doing  a  private  settlement  work 
which  would  fill  volumes  in  the  telling.  The  Indians  have 
been  schooled  and  taught,  with  educational,  industrial  and  re- 
ligious results  that  are  marvellous.  And  yet,  these  are  not  so 
wonderful  when,  with  it  all,  is  coupled  the  fact  that  the  Indians 
have  been  "lived  with  "  in  the  most  tender  and  kindly  rela- 
tionship, and  loved  in  a  way  that  has  inevitably  lifted  them. 
Mrs.  Bidwell  has  been  associated  with  W.  C.  T.  U.  work  for 
the  Indians,  and  her  influence  among  her  own  devoted  people 
has  been  most  happy.  A  series  of  questions  addressed  to  her 
asking  for  details  of  interest  brought  the  following  replies,  too 
interesting  and  encouraging  to  be  withheld  : 

Our  Indians  carry  off  the  palm  over  the  white  people  in 
general,  in  honesty,  sociability,  appreciativeness  and  general 
cnaracter. 


58       Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

The  temperance  sentiment  has  caused  all  but  some  half  dozen 
wholly  to  abandon  alcoholic  drinks.  Once,  all  drank  more  or 
less  when  white  men  gave  or  sold  it  to  them.  The  white  man 
was  their  teacher. 

They  are  so  industrious  that  they  are  in  demand  for  all  kinds 
of  work  to  which  they  are  accustomed,  and  some  have  even  re- 
ceived ^3.00  a  day  where  white  men  had  but  £2.50  for  special 
work. 

They  are  susceptible  to  religious  teaching  and  welcome  it 
The  daughter  of  the  chief,  who  was  an  unclad  savage  when 
my  husband  found  these  Indians,  and  who  is  now  in  her  twenty- 
third  year,  occupies  my  place  in  the  village  in  my  absence, 
gives  the  sermon  in  the  chapel,  conducts  its  exercises,  and  has 
a  large  congregation  present  at  Sunday  service. 

She  was  a  delegate  sent  by  our  Chico  State  Normal  School 
to  Capitola  by  the  sea,  to  the  Y.  W.  C.  A.  Convention  of  the 
States  of  California,  Oregon,  Washington  and  Nevada.  Our 
Association  met  all  expenses  of  her  trip,  her  railroad  ticket  being 
325.00.  One  of  our  Normal  School  delegates  wrote  me  from 
Capitola  about  the  joy  of  our  Maggie  in  this  convention,  and 
the  blessing  she  was  to  it.  She  was  also  sent  by  Chico  Presby- 
terian Church  to  synodical  meeting  and  appointed  to  give  the 
report  of  work  in  the  Indian  village.  The  secretary  wrote  me 
that  Maggie  had  been  a  benediction  in  the  meeting.  Our  peo- 
ple appreciate  their  religious  privileges  more  than  the  average 
white  people. 

As  to  musical  ability,  we  have  a  brass  band,  organ  and  piano, 
played  by  our  men. 

Our  Indians  have  never  received  help  from  any  government 
association.  My  husband  gave  them  homes,  putting  them  under 
the  protection  of  the  Presbyterian  Home  Mission  Society  of 
California,  that  white  people  might  not  "  worry  them  to  death  " 
for  their  land. 

Truly,  the  means  in  this  case  have  been  extraordinary,  but 
the  results  have  been  commensurate.  After  tnis  illustration  of 
possibilities,  we  ought  to  "  abound  in  hope." 


The  Educational  Problem  59 

A  MESSAGE  FROM  THE  WORD 

"  WHAT  Is  IT,  LORD  ?  " 

The  centurion's  question.  Acts  10  :  1-4. 

Of  whom  shall  we  ask  it  ?  John  6  :  68  (beginning 

"  Lord,  to  whom  "). 

How  shall  we  know  the  doctrine  ?  John  7:17. 

What  shall  we  do  ?  John  2  :  5. 

First  of  all  ?  (Believe)  Acts  16  :  31. 

Then  follow.  Matthew  9  :  9. 

Take  His  yoke.  Matthew  1 1  :  28-30. 

Sent  forth.  Matthew  10  :  16. 

Go,  teach,  Matthew  28  :  19,  20. 

Preach  the  Word,  2  Timothy  4  :  2. 

Pray,  Matthew  9  :  38. 

Give  to  him  that  asketh,  Matthew  5  :  42. 

A  portion  to  seven  and  to  eight.  Ecclesiastes  1 1  :  2. 
Doing  God's  will,  relates  us  to  Him.        Matthew  12  :  50. 

WORTH  MEMORIZING 

God's  opportunities  wait  neither  man's  convenience  nor  in- 
clination ;  they  flash  before  us,  but  we  can  grasp  and  send  them 
into  eternity  freighted  with  blessing. — Mary  Bynon  Reese. 

How  shall  we  live  to-day?  Remembering  that  heaven's 
gate  is  open  wide  enough  for  us  to  bring  others  in. — Georgia 
Hulse  M'Leod. 

Swift  sounds  the  sweet,  stern  voice  from  out  the  gloom, 

«  What's  that  to  thee  ? 

Thine  is  the  single  step,  not  sweep  of  worlds ; 
Follow  thou  Me." 

— Anna  Garlin  Spencer. 

Woman's  missionary  work  is  the  tuneful  overture  of  that 
mighty  oratorio  entitled  "  Woman  in  Philanthropy,"  whose 
deeper  harmonies  the  twentieth  century  shall  hear. — Frances  £. 
Willard. 


60       Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

If  you  ever  get  discouraged  in  a  good  work,  tell  God,  but 
don't  tell  your  neighbour. — Narcissa  E.  White. 

My  life  only  goes  to  show  how  God  can  use  a  plain,  simple 
woman  to  do  a  work  for  Himself.  I  have  done  nothing.  God 
has  done  all.  I  have  worked  hard,  very  hard;  and  I  have  de- 
nied God  nothing. — Florence  Nightingale. 

Victory  means  not  a  resting-place  for  feasting  and  congratu- 
lations, but  a  step  towards  further  battle  and  conquest. 

— Mrs.  Charles. 

MEMORY  TEST 

1.  Compare  the  Indian's  native  abilities  with  those  of  his 
white  neighbour. 

2.  What  disabilities  exist  and  what  are  the  possibilities  of 
Indian  education  ? 

3.  Give  the  three  essential  features  of  the  present  govern- 
ment policy. 

4.  Difference    between    non-reservation    and    day-schools. 
Compare  advantages.     What  do  you  think  of  taking  the  Indian 
infants  away  from  their  mothers  before,  as  they  say,  "  they  can 
tie  their  moccasins  "  ? 

5.  Give  some  account  of  native  schools  maintained  by  In- 
dian tribes. 

6.  Mention  prominent  Indian  Training-Schools  maintained 
by  government  and  speak  of  their  work  and  effectiveness. 

7.  Mission  schools — why  are  they  needed  and  what  do  they 
accomplish  that  government  schools  cannot  ? 

8.  Mention  some  changes  in  Indian  affairs  wrought  in  the 
past  twenty-five  years. 


THE  MISSION   FIELD— SEED-SOW- 
ING AND   SHEAVES 


IN  THE  MASTER'S  SERVICE 

The  fields  of  wheat  lay  golden  in  the  sun, 

"  Now  who  for  me  will  reap  ?  "  the  master  said ; 
"  For  they  who  gather  in  those  precious  sheaves 

Shall  wear  my  robes,  and  of  my  best  be  fed." 
The  servants  heard  their  royal  master's  words, 

And  with  glad  hearts  they  went  with  sickles  keen 
Unto  the  fields  where  stood  the  yellow  wheat, 

With  scarlet  poppies  growing  in  between. 

But  one  who  loved  his  master  more  than  most, 
And  in  the  morn  with  others  gladly  went 

To  gather  grain,  ere  scarce  an  hour  had  passed, 
Found  to  his  grief  that  all  his  strength  was  spent. 

But  his  bright  spirit  was  not  dimmed;  he  smiled 

As  other  reapers  passed  him  swift  and  strong, 
And  helpful  words  he  said,  and  oft  he  sang 

Sweet,  tender  strains  to  cheer  the  way  along. 
And  by  his  side  there  welled  a  limpid  spring, 

With  whose  cool  waters  oft  he  brimmed  a  cup, 
And  as  the  noon  heats  grew,  the  passers-by 

Blessed  the  weak  hands  that  held  the  nectar  up. 

At  last  the  sun  went  down,  and  shadows  lay 

On  all  the  well  reaped  fields,  and  toil  was  done ; 
And  tired,  but  glad,  the  labourers  homeward  turned, 

Bearing  the  sheaves  their  faithfulness  had  won. 
"  Well  done  !  well  done  !  "  the  master  kindly  spake, 

And  spake  it  yet  again,  as  each  one  spread 
Before  his  feet  the  treasure  he  had  gained. 

"  Ye  are  my  servants  leal  and  true !  "  he  said. 

At  last  one  came,  meekly,  but  unafraid ; 

"  Dear  Master,  I  have  but  one  sheaf,  so  small 
*Tis  scarce  worth  notice ;  but  my  loyal  heart 

Is  full  of  love ;  to  thee  I  give  it  all." 
"  Nay,  thou  hast  many  sheaves  !  "  the  master  said ; 

"  And  very  precious  art  thou  unto  me ; 
For  each  soul  thou  hast  comforted  to-day 

Brought  home  a  large  and  golden  sheaf  for  thee." 

—£.  A.  Lt 


Ill 

THE    MISSION    FIELD— SEED-SOWING   AND 
SHEAVES 

"IF  IFT  up  your  eyes  and  look  on  the 
fields."  There  is  no  more  explicit 

JL J command  than  this.  We  do  not  see 

because  we  do  not  look,  and  we  do  not  look, 
perhaps,  because  we  are  overmuch  occupied 
with  our  own  little  garden-plots.  To  be  sure, 
our  very  first  duty  is  in  our  door-yards,  but  we 
are  to  remember  that  "everybody's  little  door- 
yard  opens  into  all  outdoors "  and  also,  that 
"the  eye  that  looks  farthest,  sees  the  most  in 
between." 

Let  us  look,  then,  with  love-enlightened  and 
far-seeing  vision,  upon  this  Indian  mission  field 
which  stretches  in  neighbourly  proximity  to  our 
own  door-yards. 

How  large  is  it  ?  Not  vast,  and  perhaps  we 
may  say  that  it  is  "  all  occupied,  but  not  all  cul- 
tivated." Workers  have  gone  everywhere,  but 
the  work  is  not  all  done — not  even  in  its  prelimi- 
naries. 

A  recent  writer,  commenting  upon  what  he 
calls  the  relentless  law  that  where  the  white  race 
goes,  the  race  present  must  recede  before  it, 
says,  "The  American  Indians  stand  like  a  patch 
of  tall  grass  which  has  hitherto  escaped  the  mow- 
63 


64      Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

ing  machine  in  the  harvest  field "  and  suggests 
that  the  last  patch  will  soon  be  mowed.  Dr. 
Nehemiah  Boynton,  in  reference  to  this  theory 
exclaims,  "That  may  be  good  science  but  it  is 
bad  Christianity,"  and  proceeds  to  say  that  the 
thousands  of  red  men  remaining  have  as  good  a 
right  to  our  blessings  as  any  in  the  land. 

The  latest  available  official  reports  give  the 
exact  number  of  Indians,  excluding  those  of 
Alaska,1  but  including  the  "Six  Nations"  and 
"Five  Civilized  Tribes,"  to  be  272,023.  The 
race  is  far  from  being  extinct.  As  one  says: 
"The  Indian  is  not  passing  away  from  the  strife 
of  civilization,  he  is  simply  moving  through  its 
stages.  He  is  not  going  out  from  us,  he  is  com- 
ing among  us.  It  will  not  do  to  think  of  the 
Indian  as  a  passing  factor  in  our  life.  Such  a 
conception  is  detrimental  to  the  work  and  con- 
trary to  the  facts.  With  all  respect  to  ethnolo- 
gists who  measure  his  cranium  and  put  his  toma- 
hawks into  museums,  and  treat  him  as  a  'has 
been '  of  marching  civilization,  the  Indian  is  here. 
He  has  in  him  the  elements  of  permanence." 

It  behooves  us,  then,  to  lift  up  our  eyes  and 
look  to  see  where  he  is  now,  and  what  he  is,  and 
what  we  can  do  to  help  him,  hearing  in  our  ears 
already  the  Divine  and  solemn  question,  "  Where 
is  thy  brother  ? "  God  has  a  place  for  the  red 
men  in  our  midst,  and  bids  us  "Go  and  call 
them  in." 

1  The  subject  of  mission  work  among  Alaskan  Indians  will 
be  treated  in  a  later  volume  of  this  series. 


The  Mission  Field  65 

In  round  numbers,  175,000  Indians  are  scattered 
through  twenty-three  States  and  Territories,  ex- 
clusive of  the  "Nations"  and  "Tribes"  men- 
tioned above.  The  larger  bodies  are  found  in 
Arizona,  South  Dakota,  Oklahoma,  California, 
Wisconsin  and  Montana,  in  numbers  diminishing 
in  the  order  in  which  these  are  named.  The 
number  of  Indians  in  Florida,  chiefly  Seminoles, 
is  comparatively  small — an  isolated  Southern  rem- 
nant, in  terror  of  being  removed  to  the  Indian 
Territory,  and  much  prejudiced  against  white 
men  on  this  account. 

In  the  Indian  Territory  thousands  of  the  Indians 
speak,  read  and  write  the  English  language,  and 
everywhere  this  tongue  is  increasingly  prevalent, 
making  it  easier  for  us  to  give  to  our  neighbour 
the  message  with  which  we  are  charged  for  him. 

AT  THE  OUTSET 

Two  primary  studies  will  prepare  us  for  wider 
outlook  upon  this  mission  field  : — Native  traits 
and  susceptibilities  as  encouraging  effort,  and  the 
brief  story  of  earliest  seed-sowing. 

The  "children  of  the  leaves"  as  the  gentle 
Whittier  called  them,  have  not  only  lived  near 
to  Nature's  heart,  in  forest  and  prairie,  but  have 
been  sensitive  to  the  sound  of  its  throbbings  in 
the  solitudes  apart.  The  spiritual  significance  of 
outward  things  has  appealed  to  the  red  man's 
soul  and  has  made  him  devout.  He  has  wor- 
shipped the  sun  as  the  source  of  power;  he  has 
prayed  to  the  wind  as  a  breath  divine,  he  has  be- 


66      Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

sought  the  mountain  to  be  kindly  and  to  send 
down  the  streams  of  water,  and  the  waves  to 
bear  his  light  canoe  in  safety. 

From  earliest  childhood  the  children  are  taught 
to  regard  with  reverence  the  Great  Spirit  and  to 
be  conscious  of  His  presence.  At  the  age  of  three 
or  four  this  instruction  begins,  with  an  earnest- 
ness and  persistence  that  might  put  to  shame 
some  more  enlightened  households.  The  great 
reserve  maintained  with  regard  to  sacred  things 
when  curious  or  even  friendly  questions  are  asked, 
shows  the  estimation  in  which  they  are  held. 

The  custom  of  asking  the  Great  Spirit's  blessing 
upon  the  food,  by  the  squaw,  as  she  served,  in 
primitive  fashion  indeed,  the  venison,  fish  or 
wild-fowl,  has  been  long  observed  in  some  tribes. 
All  the  powers  of  earth,  air,  water,  have  been  dei- 
fied by  the  Forest  People  and  their  imagination 
has  multiplied  the  objects  of  adoration  and  of 
fear. 

"The  Indians  have  given  me,"  wrote  Roger 
Williams,  "the  names  of  thirty-seven  gods, 
which  I  have,  all  which,  in  their  solemne  worships, 
they  invocate."  (This  is  in  his  book,  "  Brief e  Ob- 
servations of  the  Customs,  Manners,  Worships, 
of  the  Natives  in  Warre  and  Peace,"  with  four 
other  titles  trailing  after  this  "briefe"  one,  and 
concluding  with  "  Pleasant  and  Profitable  to  the 
view  of  all  Mene.") 

The  idea  of  sacrifice  is  prevalent.  The  baby 
Indian  of  three  or  four  is  taught  that  "  Wakan 
Tanka,"  the  "  Great  Mystery,"  is  to  receive  gifts 


The  Mission  Field  07 

as  well  as  prayers.  He  is  trained  to  give  his 
most  cherished  possessions,  and  so  thorough  is 
the  training  that  children  give  willingly  a  pet  dog 
or  a  beautiful  blanket,  if  led  to  believe  that  thus 
they  may  please  the  gods. 

It  is  true  that  we  must  generalize  here,  and 
that  the  exceptions  are  many  and  varied,  while 
the  degeneracy  through  years  of  lawlessness  and 
oppression  is  sadly  apparent.  But  some  wise 
person  warns  us  not  to  "judge  by  spoiled 
samples  "  in  any  case,  or  cause.  The  fact  remains, 
unchallenged  and  uncontroverted,  that  in  the 
Indian  nature  there  is  an  unusual  spiritual  percep- 
tion and  susceptibility;  there  are  instincts  and 
aptitudes  to  which  Christianity  makes  direct  and 
swift  appeal. 

It  is  true  that  demon-worship  prevails,  to  a  de- 
gree, with  most  degrading  forms  of  idolatry. 
There  are  horrible  and  frenzied  practices  that  are 
called  forms  of  worship,  especially  in  connection 
with  death  and  burial,  their  belief  in  immortality 
being  accompanied  with  very  materialistic  cere- 
monies. But  these  pagan  rites  are  no  more  dis- 
couraging than  those  of  our  more  distant  neigh- 
bours. 

A  missionary  writes:  "Even  the  smoking  of 
the  pipe,  in  olden  time,  was  the  offering  of  in- 
cense to  the  god  of  the  four  winds.  A  part  of 
every  meal  was  held  aloft  with  the  words,  '  Eat, 
Spirit/  after  which  the  food  would  be  eaten  by 
the  one  thus  offering.  The  child  was  thus  trained 
from  birth  in  an  atmosphere  of  worship.  The 


68       Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

Indian  is  so  full  of  this  spirit,  that  to  educate  his 
brain  and  hand  and  leave  his  soul  untaught,  is  to 
rob  him  of  far  more  than  we  give  him.  Hence 
the  plea  for  mission  schools  where  work  is  done 
for  eternity  as  well  as  for  time.  For  the  mission 
school  and  the  missionary  are  as  needful  for  the 
North  American  Indian  as  for  the  East  Indian." 

From  the  earliest  Pilgrim  days,  efforts  have 
been  made  to  Christianize  our  red  neighbours,  the 
aborigines.  To  John  Eliot,  the  "Apostle  to  the 
Indians,"  belongs  "the  lofty  honour  of  preaching 
the  first  sermon  in  a  Northern  American  tongue." 
And  it  lasted  three  hours — the  hearers  were  so 
eager! 

A  halo  seems  to  rest  upon  the  place  and  story 
of  the  first  church  among  the  North  American 
Indians,  organized  in  Natick,  Massachusetts,  in 
1660,  by  this  devoted  "  First  Apostle  "  to  the  red 
men.  John  Eliot  was  born  in  England  in  1604. 
He  was  forty-one  when  he  began  his  especial 
work  among  the  Indians,  when  he  rode  across 
the  country  once  a  fortnight  to  preach  to  them, 
and  won  their  undying  devotion.  His  translation 
of  the  Bible  was  finished  in  1663,  and  was  the 
first  copy  of  the  Word  of  God  ever  printed  in 
this  country.  A  captive  Indian  from  the  Pequot 
War  assisted  Mr.  Eliot  in  this  translation,  which 
was  afterwards  revised  and  re-printed.  The  words 
for  salt,  amen,  and  some  others,  did  not  exist  in 
the  Indian  tongue,  and  were  given  in  English. 

In  1666  Eliot  printed  an  Indian  grammar,  add- 
ing upon  the  final  page  the  golden  maxim, 


The  Mission  Field  69 

"Prayer  and  pains,  through  faith  in  Jesus  Christ, 
will  do  anything."  This  man  of  old  has  been 
called  the  father  of  the  free  school  system  in  this 
country,  another  proof  that  the  missionary  spirit 
broadens  the  man  and  blesses  the  whole  com- 
munity. 

What  Eliot's  "prayer  and  pains"  did  for  the 
Indian  still  shines  upon  history's  page.  He  es- 
tablished settlements,  gave  to  them  various  in- 
dustrial occupations,  bridge-building,  agriculture, 
houses,  clothes.  He  enlisted  others  at  home  and 
in  England,  and  a  corporation  for  promoting  re- 
ligion among  these  aborigines  was  formed  in 
New  England.  Security  was  afforded  white  citi- 
zens and  the  privileges  of  self-government  were 
accorded  to  the  Indian  settlements.  There  were 
fourteen  towns  of  "praying  Indians,"  and  in 
fourteen  years  the  number  of  the  natives  thus 
distinguished  was  3,600.  Before  "the  Apostle" 
died,  at  least  twenty-four  of  his  beloved  red 
brothers  were  associated  with  him  as  fellow- 
preachers.  And  be  it  remembered  that  Mrs.  Eliot, 
noted  for  her  medical  skill,  was  a  helpmeet  for 
him,  in  those  days  before  woman's  medical  mis- 
sions existed. 

Among  the  natives  in  Martha's  Vineyard  and 
Nantucket,  laboured  Thomas  Mayhew,  and  his 
father  of  the  same  name.  The  son  was  lost  at 
sea  on  his  way  to  solicit  aid  for  the  work,  and 
although  the  father  was  then  seventy  years  old 
he  began  to  study  the  Indian  language,  and  until 
he  was  ninety-three  he  carried  on  the  work,  often 


70       Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

walking  twenty  miles  through  the  woods  to 
preach  to  his  forest  congregation. 

Another  life  that  burned  out  in  service  and 
sacrifice  in  behalf  of  the  copper-coloured  race  was 
that  of  David  Brainerd.  New  Jersey,  Delaware 
and  Pennsylvania  formed  the  field  of  his  toil,  and 
though  he  was  called  home  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
nine,  he  accomplished  much  for  his  Master,  and 
"his  works  do  follow  him."  "O  that  1  could 
dedicate  my  all  to  God!  This  is  all  the  return 
I  can  make  Him,"  he  wrote,  and  kindred  ex- 
pressions still  glow  upon  the  faded  pages  of  his 
journal. 

David  Zeiberger,  who  spent  sixty  laborious 
years  chiefly  among  the  Indians  of  Ohio,  is 
counted  worthy  to  rank  with  David  Brainerd. 

Limiting  himself  to  coarse  and  meagre  fare, 
for  the  work's  sake,  this  man,  in  labours  more 
abundant,  established  sixty  Christian  towns,  and 
died  at  the  age  of  eighty-eight,  with  his  Tusca- 
wara  converts  weeping  around  his  bed. 

It  was  back  in  the  thirties  that  four  historic 
braves  of  the  Nez  Perces,  came  across  the  moun- 
tains of  the  Northwest  looking  for  "The  Book  of 
Heaven,"  and  returning,  alas,  without  it.  But  the 
later  answer  to  that  pathetic  appeal  was  Marcus 
Whitman,  and,  as  one  says,  "The  world  knows 
his  story,  if  not  theirs.1'  The  desert  journey  of 
the  missionary  and  his  bride,  with  others  of  an 
elect  company,  their  toil  and  burden,  the  heroic 
ride  across  the  continent  that  saved  Oregon,  and 
the  martyrdom  which  closed  the  story  of  Marcus 


The  Mission  Field  71 

Whitman  and  his  wife,  now  written  in  letters  of 
flame  upon  our  country's  annals,  are  known  and 
read  of  all,  or,  if  not,  the  pity  of  it— oh,  the  pity 
of  it! 

Stephen  Return  Riggs  is  another  name  written 
upon  the  record  that  endures. 

Born  in  Steubenville,  Ohio,  he  was  commis- 
sioned a  missionary  in  1837,  and  appointed  to 
Fort  Snelling.  From  time  to  time  he  published 
lesson-books  in  Dakota,  and  prepared  a  diction- 
ary of  that  language,  published  in  1852  by  the 
Smithsonian  Institution.  His  Dakota-English 
Dictionary  was  published  by  the  Bureau  of  Eth- 
nology in  1883. 

Time  would  fail  to  tell  of  all  the  advance  guard 
of  missionaries  who  kindled  the  first  lights  in  the 
forest,  and  blazed  a  trail  where  now  there  are 
highways. 

Think  what  would  have  been  lost  to  science 
and  history  if  these  pioneers  had  not  started  when 
they  did  along  the  dim,  untrodden  ways,  to 
gather  and  conserve  traditions,  language,  cus- 
toms and  beliefs  before  the  opportunity  was  lost 
;n  the  vanishing  of  earlier  tribes  from  off  the 
earth,  and  the  lapse  of  their  traditions  and 
tongues  into  the  silence  of  the  past! 

But  the  glory  of  these  names  and  their  contri- 
butions to  the  stores  of  education,  will  not  com- 
pare with  the  gain  of  their  labours.  They  not 
only  gathered  early  sheaves,  but  plowed  fields 
for  our  seed-sowing.  How  shall  sower  and 
reaper  rejoice  together,  if  we  do  not  follow  on, 


72      Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

after  such  preparation  of  the  way  ?  Is  there  not 
a  "  corporate  immortality  "  ?  Read  it  in  that  roll- 
call  of  heroes  in  Hebrews  where  we  learn  that 
"they  without  us  should  not  be  made  perfect." 

This  brings  us  to  the  climax  of  this  study,  the 
consideration  of  this  special  mission  field  to-day, 
its  more  recent  past,  with  seed-sowing  and 
sheaves,  and  its  present  opportunity. 

THE  OBLIGATION 

The  late  ex-President  Harrison  said  in  his 
opening  address  as  Honorary  Chairman  of  the 
great  Ecumenical  Missionary  Conference  in  New 
York  in  1900,  "  It  is  a  great  work  to  increase  the 
candle-power  of  our  educational  arc-lights,  but 
to  give  to  cave-dwellers  an  incandescent  light, 
may  be  a  better  one." 

If  these  "  cave-dwellers  "  are  our  near  neigh- 
bours, the  obligation  is  still  more  pressing,  and 
we  may  not  wait  to  bring  the  educational  arc- 
lights  at  home  to  the  utmost  candle-power  first. 

We  must  give  because  we  have  it  by  us,  and 
we  dare  not  send  our  neighbour  empty  away  if 
we  would  "  fulfill  the  law  of  Christ,"  who  is  our 
Master,  and  who  says,  "Freely  ye  have  received, 
freely  give."  Will  "three  loaves"  do? 

"Noblesse  oblige — nobility  lays  under  obliga- 
tion— not  only  its  possessor,  but  all  who  come  in 
contact  with  it,"  said  Dr.  Augustus  H.  Strong, 
at  the  Ecumenical  Conference,  and  he  added, 
"We  feel  bound  to  imitation.  When  Christ 
said,  'Go/  His  disciples  went  because  they  saw 


The  Mission  Field  73 

Him  going  to  help  and  teach.  But  there  is  some- 
thing better  than  obedience  to  authority,  and  this 
is  the  authority  of  an  inward  impulse  of  love. 
When  Jesus  bids  us  'Go,'  we  wish  to  go.  We 
can  but  speak  the  things  that  we  have  seen  and 
heard."  The  obligation  of  love  is  highest  of  all, 
love  such  as  Jesus  felt  for  the  multitudes  on 
whom  He  had  compassion. 

We  have  a  peculiar  obligation  of  debt  to  these 
native  Americans.  We  have  robbed  and  plun- 
dered them,  forgotten  and  neglected  them,  and 
from  many  a  sodden  field  "the  voice  of  our 
brothers'  blood"  cries  out  to  us  to  give  to  the 
scattered  remnants  of  the  race  the  Bread  of  Life 
Eternal. 

ORGANIZATION 

The  day  of  haphazard  is  past.  It  would  be  a 
poorly  sown  field  that  was  left  to  the  fitful  im- 
pulses of  those  who  "had  a  mind  to  work" 
somewhere,  sometimes,  and  who  ran  hither  and 
yon,  dropping  the  seed  as  it  happened,  in  sun- 
baked corners  or  open  furrows,  without  system 
or  supervision.  We  have  not  so  learned  service. 

The  best  thought,  plan,  and  practice  of  all  the 
workers,  have  been  crystallized  for  the  benefit  of 
the  work.  System,  law,  and  order  now  obtain, 
instead  of  the  nebulous  uncertainties  of  mere  im- 
pulse and  emotion.  While  there  is  much  ma- 
chinery, the  "spirit  within  the  wheels  "  redeems 
the  work  from  being  simply  mechanical. 

Woman's  work  is  almost  universally  organized 


74      Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

to  promote  knowledge,  stimulate  study,  offer  the 
royal  privilege  of  giving,  train  in  systematic  be- 
nevolence, gather  up  the  fragments  and  join  in 
the  "prayer  and  pains,  that,  through  faith  in 
Jesus  Christ,  will  do  anything."  The  missionary 
associations  and  boards  of  the  various  denomina- 
tions, with  their  perfected  machinery,  have  a 
recognized  headship  and  authority,  whether  com- 
posed of  women  or  of  men,  and  their  work  gives 
oversight  to  the  entire  missionary  field.  From 
local  organizations  in  the  churches  the  funds  pass 
to  these  general  distributing  agents,  as  the  rills 
swell  the  streams,  and  at  last  the  tide  pours  into 
the  reservoir  whose  outflow  irrigates  the  whole 
wide  area.  But  there  is  much  to  do  in  digging 
channels  for  the  rills,  widening  the  streams  and 
keeping  all  clear  of  obstructions.  All  this  ma- 
chinery is  not  for  the  sake  of  "seeing  the  wheels 
go  'round,"  but  is  in  the  interest  of  progress  and 
perfection. 

Home  missionary  work  among  our  red  neigh- 
bours, as  among  those  of  other  complexions,  is 
twofold:  Educational  and  Evangelistic.  This  is 
a  distinction  without  great  difference  in  result, 
since  Christian  education  evangelizes  and  evan- 
gelical teaching  educates.  The  work  done  in 
mission  schools,  however,  is  largely  for  the 
youth,  while  the  preaching  service  and  house-to- 
house  visitation  include  the  adults.  Both  teach- 
ers and  preachers  are  needed  in  the  beckoning 
field.  The  woman's  boards  have  especial  charge 
of  the  work  of  teaching  and  the  support  of  the 


The  Mission  Field  75 

teachers.  A  single  phrase  in  a  school  report, 
"The  adult  primary  class"  shows  that  educa- 
tional work  is  not  confined  altogether  to  young 
people.  There  are  grown  folk  who  are  beginners 
in  the  graded  school  which  gives  them  the  first 
chance  of  a  lifetime  to  become  learners. 

One  of  the  magnificent  grainfields  which  the 
far  West  affords,  under  full  cultivation  with  all 
the  appliances  and  the  busy  workmen,  is  an  in- 
spiring sight.  How  much  greater  is  the  inspira- 
tion of  a  glance  over  the  home  mission  field, 
where  the  orderly  companies  of  workers  from 
all  denominations,  united  in  heart,  in  aim  and 
purpose,  are  busily  engaged,  looking  towards  the 
harvest. 

There  is  far  too  much  unoccupied  space,  and 
far  too  much  for  each  to  do  for  any  waste  of 
time  in  disagreement  or  critical  comment.  Lines 
are  drawn,  it  is  true,  but  no  one  has  time  or 
inclination  now  to  put  up  fallen  fences.  The 
workers  are  often  in  such  close  communication 
that  now  and  then  one  and  another  will  "let  fall 
some  handfuls  of  purpose  "  on  the  other  side  of 
the  dividing  line,  for  the  benefit  of  another  who 
is  busy  there.  The  work  has  always  been  one. 
Now,  as  never  before,  the  workers  are  one. 
"And  let  all  the  people  say,  Amen.'5 

OBSTACLES 

Colonel  Pratt,  of  Carlisle  Training-School,  once 
said  in  a  public  address:  "I  say  to  my  boys, 
'  If  you  find  difficulties  in  the  home  where  I  send 


76      Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

you,  thank  God  for  it.  That  is  God's  way  of 
making  men.  Overcome.  Don't  run  away.'" 

The  Right  Reverend  William  Ridley,  Bishop  of 
Caledonia,  in  western  Canada,  said  in  reference 
to  his  arrival  among  the  Indians  of  his  field,  "  Do 
you  suppose  they  wanted  us  there  ?  Not  at  all. 
We  went  not  because  we  were  wanted,  but  be- 
cause we  were  needed.  And  we  met  with 
difficulties,  thank  God.  Difficulties  are  the  con- 
diments of  life." 

Missionaries  among  the  Indians  have  had 
abundance  of  such  spice  in  their  work,  but,  so 
far  as  the  records  go,  they  have  not  complained 
nor  given  up,  even  when  the  spice  has  been 
greatly  in  excess. 

Bishop  Ridley  adds  a  lavish  seasoning  of  re- 
joicing to  his  remark  above,  in  the  later  com- 
ment, "  I  don't  know  brighter  characters  now, 
than  among  those  Indians  on  the  coast.  We 
have  a  jail  that  has  had  nobody  in  it  for  twelve 
years  and  now  we  are  going  to  turn  it  into  a 
coal-house." 

Surmounted  obstacles  turn  to  stepping-stones, 
it  seems.  But  we  need  not  expect  to  get  over 
them  blindfolded.  We  must  face  them  as  we 
find  them. 

In  helping  the  Indians,  one  of  the  first  and 
greatest  hindrances  is,  as  in  other  cases,  the  con- 
dition of  woman.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  there  are 
degrees  of  degradation  and  of  eminence.  It  is 
true  that  Indian  women  are  not  universally  in 
subjection,  as  in  some  heathen  lands.  Among 


The  Mission  Field  77 

the  Navajoes  the  squaws  own  the  sheep,  and  in 
other  tribes  the  teams,  and  have  certain  other 
property  privileges.  In  many,  the  woman  gives 
the  family  name  to  the  children,  and,  in  some 
tribes,  the  woman  holds  the  right  of  separation, 
and  can  send  her  husband  away  at  her  will, 
which  gives  her  a  certain  position  of  power.  In 
earlier  days  the  servitude  of  the  women  was  not 
considered  degrading,  but  the  duties  of  providing 
for  family  necessities,  preparing  food  and  shelter, 
dressing  the  skins  and  such  labours,  were  as- 
sumed that  "  Hiawatha  "  might  be  released  from 
drudgery,  and  become  a  brave  to  be  proud  of, 
worthy  to  wear  the  eagle  feather. 

The  training  of  the  children  has  always  been 
largely  the  woman's  part,  and,  in  the  tribes  of 
better  condition,  most  thoroughly  has  this  been 
done,  so  far  as  outward  observances  go.  The 
little  ones  have  been  drilled  in  courtesy,  which 
requires  that  an  older  person  should  never  be  ad- 
dressed by  name  but  always  by  some  term  of 
relationship  or  politeness,  that  the  name  of  a  per- 
son should  not  be  asked,  that  self-control  be 
exercised  from  babyhood,  and  patience,  without 
murmuring,  and  that  hospitality  be  practiced — 
the  child  being  usually  delegated  to  offer  this. 
The  mother  also  trains  the  younger  ones  in  ex- 
posure and  endurance  for  the  sake  of  hardihood, 
allowing  sun  and  storm  to  beat  upon  them  and 
making  them  endure  bumps  and  bruises  without 
cry  or  complaint.  Indian  mothers  have  been 
noted  as  the  most  affectionate  possible,  and, 


78      Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

while  insisting  upon  obedience,  and  teaching 
reverence  for  the  Great  Spirit  and  for  the  child's 
elders,  punishments,  especially  corporal  punish- 
ments, are  almost  unknown. 

With  all  these  brighter  traits,  the  average 
character  and  condition  of  the  Indian  women  have 
set  a  barrier  against  the  progress  of  Christianity 
and  education.  It  is  the  Indian  mother  who 
refuses  to  "walk  the  white  man's  road,"  and 
does  all  she  can  to  keep  husband  and  children 
from  taking  that  way.  She  clings  with  woman's 
constancy  to  her  home  and  religion  of  a  thousand 
years  past,  refusing  to  accept  the  better  way, 
while  the  tide  of  education  is  sweeping  from  her 
that  which  she  holds  so  dear.  She  is  stubborn, 
she  is  dirty,  and  would  not  be  otherwise.  She 
is  fearful  that  civilization  will  snatch  her  children 
away,  and  this,  says  one  from  the  field,  "makes 
her  a  still  greater  savage.  The  real  Indian  prob- 
lem that  confronts  the  missionary  is  the  Indian 
woman." 

The  nature  of  the  men  complicates  the  prob- 
lem. The  dominant  pride  and  independence,  the 
native  cruelty  and  craftiness,  the  still  uncrushed 
warrior  spirit,  the  hard  reserve,  the  torpid  indif- 
ference, the  resentment  against  seeming  interfer- 
ence, all  these  traits  make  it  difficult  to  approach 
the  Indian  man,  and  to  influence  him.  "Our 
great  hope  is  in  the  children.  It  is  hard  to  reach 
the  men,"  exclaimed  a  missionary  of  long  experi- 
ence. 

The  Indian  tongues  are  barriers  to  advance. 


The  Mission  Field  79 

The  Arapahoe  is  so  difficult  that  it  is  said  no 
white  man  has  ever  mastered  it.  The  Cheyenne 
is  almost  as  hard  to  learn,  although  a  few  have 
acquired  it. 

The  fact  that  many  of  the  languages  are 
wholly  unwritten,  renders  them  the  more  baffling. 
The  limited  vocabularies  furnish  another  obstacle 
in  the  communication  of  the  truth.  The  terms 
for  Christian  teaching  are  wanting — for  example, 
the  word  for  forgiveness.  Rev.  Walter  C.  Roe 
writes  out  of  his  own  experience  in  Oklahoma, 
"Most  of  our  preaching  must  be  done  through 
the  medium  of  an  interpreter,  or,  if  several  tribes 
are  represented,  through  several  interpreters, 
speaking  in  turn  or  simultaneously.  No  one  who 
has  not  made  the  attempt  can  realize  how  hard  it 
is  to  convey  Gospel  truth  through  this  dissipating 
medium.  Too  often  the  message  is  distorted 
through  the  ignorance  or  even  the  intention  of 
the  interpreter,  and,  even  if  honestly  and  ac- 
curately transmitted,  is  shorn  of  all  eloquence  and 
enthusiasm." 

Alas  for  the  truth  that  long  and  bitter  experi- 
ence has  made  the  Indian  suspicious  of  the  white 
man!  It  takes  long  to  pay  the  price  now  re- 
quired for  the  winning  of  confidence  and  affec- 
tion. The  feeling  of  injury  and  resentment 
against  the  government,  its  agents  and  employees, 
and  against  the  white  settlers  who  have  obtained 
fraudulent  possession  of  lands,  in  their  merciless 
greed,  will  take  long  to  heal. 

The  unspeakable  curse  of  the   "fire-water" 


80      Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

offered  the  Indian  by  the  hand  of  so-called  civili- 
zation, is  also  one  of  the  greatest  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  Christianization. 

When  the  missionaries  have  gained  some 
standing-ground,  then  comes  the  conflict  with 
old  traditions  and  superstitions,  and  the  smould- 
ering hostility  to  the  white  man  burns  up  fiercely 
at  this  attempt  to  take  from  the  red  men  the 
heritage  of  the  past.  They  admit,  generally, 
that  it  is  well  for  the  children  to  "take  the  Jesus 
road"  but  for  themselves  they  cling  to  the  old 
rites.  The  medicine  men  present  a  solid  front  of 
opposition.  Among  the  tribes  of  the  southwest 
a  new  religion  called  "mescal  worship,"  is  an- 
other hindrance.  It  is  so  called  from  the  herb 
used,  which  produces  frenzied  excitement,  and 
everything  in  this  later  paganism  is  arrayed 
against  Christianity. 

It  is  a  surprise  to  the  Indians  to  learn  that  "tak- 
ing the  Jesus  road  "  not  only  means  giving  up 
their  ancient  rites,  but  the  renunciation  of  their 
sins.  They  might  accept  new  theories — but  a 
new  life  of  self-denial,  sacrifice  and  service, 
meets  with  resistance  within  and  without. 
Christian  Indians  know  only  too  well  what  it  is 
to  be  "  persecuted  for  righteousness'  sake." 

The  presentation  of  these  obstacles  is  only  fair 
to  the  cause,  to  those  who  are  making  the  clear- 
ings and  sowing  the  seed,  and  to  the  workers 
who  are  furnishing  the  seed-baskets  for  those 
who  go  forth.  Moreover,  the  work  done  in 
spite  of  these  difficulties,  magnifies  the  "mani- 


The  Mission  Field  81 

fold  grace"  of  Him  "  with  whom  nothing  is  im- 
possible." 

Through,   and  around,   and  over  these  very 
obstacles,  behold  the  wonderful 


OPENINGS 

"  We  have  started  on  God's  road  now,  because 
God's  road  is  the  same  for  the  red  man  as  for  the 
white  man,"  said  Chief  Lone  Wolf  when  the 
first  Indians,  seventeen  in  number,  entered 
Hampton  Institute.  The  openings  into  God's 
road  are  continually  multiplying  among  these 
neighbours  of  ours.  Sentences  like  these  shine 
out  from  the  letters  of  missionaries: 

We  believe  these  people  are  waking  up.  We  believe  the 
light  is  beginning  to  shine. 

The  morning  cometh.     There  are  signs  of  dawn. 

Rapidly  the  Kiowas  are  folding  the  tepees  and  learning  to 
live  in  their  new  houses. 

From  every  direction  come  cries  for  help. 

From  the  Seminole  country  comes  the  yet  unanswered  ques- 
tion from  Indian  lips,  "  Why  do  not  Christian  women  in  the 
states  send  us  teachers  ?  Is  it  because  we  are  so  near  that 
they  do  not  hear  our  cry  ?  " 

Said  Chief  Pokagon,  "  I  now  realize  that  the  hand  of  the 
Great  Spirit  is  open  in  our  behalf,  and  Christian  men  and 
women  are  saying,  '  The  red  man  is  our  brother  and  God  is 
the  father  of  all.' " 

Here  is  a  message  from  a  Comanche  to  his  Hopi  friends : 
"  Dear  friends,  I  am  an  Indian  and  a  Comanche,  and  I  am  in 
Jesus  road.  I  am  walking  very  hard  in  Jesus  road,  and  I 
want  you  to  walk  in  it  too.  That  is  why  I  am  giving  you  this 
talk.  Jesus  road  is  a  good  road." 


82       Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

The  progress  in  government  policy  and  in  the 
civilization  of  the  Indian  has  prepared  him  to 
alter  the  opinion  of  Christianity  that  he  gained 
from  contact  with  the  worst  white  elements. 
"  He  has  learned  to  distinguish  between  the  true 
and  the  false,"  writes  Dr.  George  M'Afee.  "  The 
Indian's  sense  of  justice  is  his  most  prominent 
characteristic.  When  he  meets  with  justice  at 
the  hands  of  the  Christian  missionary,  teacher  or 
professor,  he  is  won.  A  radical  change  of  senti- 
ment, affecting  the  attitude  of  whole  tribes,  has 
occurred  within  the  last  decade.  Now,  there  is 
scarcely  an  Indian  nation,  tribe,  or  band,  which 
does  not  recognize  Christians  as  their  best  friends, 
and  readily  respond  to  every  effort  made  by  the 
church,  through  missionaries  and  teachers,  for 
their  betterment." 

A  letter  from  the  field  contains  this  word: 

"  Our  work  has  succeeded  against  many  obsta- 
cles. There  is  a  great  opening  for  the  Gospel 
among  the  Pawnees  and  Poncas.  Shall  we  let 
these  people  within  seventy-five  miles  of  the 
Kansas  line  continue  to  worship  idols  made  by 
stuffing  geese-skins  ?  A  wail  of  sorrow  is  going 
up  from  the  lowly  homes  of  these  children  of  the 
forest  in  their  utter  wretchedness— an  unvoiced 
cry  for  help." 

So  many  Indians  near  Wolf  Point,  Montana, 
begged  the  missionary  to  take  their  little  children, 
so  that  they  would  not  have  to  send  them  twenty 
miles  away  to  the  government  school,  that  a  new 
plan  of  self-support  was  devised,  which  has  been 


The  Mission  Field  83 

very  satisfactory.  The  Indians  who  beg  for 
places  for  the  children  are  asked  to  provide  sup- 
plies for  them.  Beginning  with  five,  the  number 
soon  increased  to  forty-nine,  and  the  desire  to 
keep  their  children  with  this  teacher  has  led 
many  parents  to  greater  industry,  in  order  to  pro- 
vide support.  This  is  an  opening  especially  en- 
couraging. 

A  missionary  to  the  Mojaves,  who  are  among 
the  most  degraded  and  dirty  of  the  Indians  ap- 
pearing at  the  stations  along  the  Santa  Fe  Rail- 
road, writes  of  the  increasing  opportunities  among 
even  these,  eighteen  having  just  been  received 
into  the  newly-organized  church.  He  begs 
tourists  to  look  beyond  "Navajo  blankets, 
Papago  pottery  and  Pima  baskets,  and  consider 
the  uplift  of  the  people." 

Another  missionary  writes,  "How  delightful 
to  see  the  gospel  of  soap  and  water  making  its 
silent  but  sure  way  in  the  grimy  cabin."  When 
cleanliness  finds  an  entrance,  Godliness  enters 
the  opening. 

It  is  said  that  the  Indians  now  use  the  mails  to 
a  considerable  extent.  Those  who  cannot  read, 
have  their  letters  interpreted  for  them.  Here, 
indeed,  is  a  fresh  opening  and  an  avenue  of  in- 
fluence. 

An  Indian  chief  wrote  to  a  Southern  Board  of 
Missions: 

"God  did  not  reject  us.  I  hope  His  friends 
will  not  reject  us.  I  hope  your  board  will  soon 
send  a  man  in  the  name  of  Christ  to  come  and 


84      Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

seek  and  save  the  poor  lost  red  man.  We  are 
distressed  on  every  side.  We  want  friends  and 
help.  Our  last  and  only  hope  is  in  the  Church  of 
Christ.  Our  woes  are  heavy  upon  us." 

Before  the  first  missionaries  came  to  Saddle 
Mountain,  Oklahoma,  the  hearts  of  the  Indians 
were  steeled  against  all  inroads  of  white  men. 
Their  objections  to  a  government  school  were  so 
great  that  another  site  was  chosen.  "  When  the 
Great  Father  brought  them  a  missionary,  a  little 
bit  of  a  woman  who  could  not  defend  her  scalp 
against  them  for  five  minutes,  they  were  mightily 
stirred,  and  said,  '  We  will  let  this  Jesus  woman 
sit  down  with  us  because  the  Great  Father  has 
sent  her.'" 

At  first  they  objected  to  "the  church  road," 
and  would  have  no  building,  fearing  the  "bad 
white  men  "  would  come,  but  at  last,  some  time 
after  the  organization  of  the  missionary  society, 
"  God's  Light  upon  the  Mountain,"  they  changed 
their  minds  about  "the  church  road,"  and  called 
it  "the  way  ahead  road,"  which  the  teacher  had 
showed  them. 

Another  lovely  young  teacher  among  these 
people  was  called  by  them  "  Aim-day-co."  The 
Kiowa  chief,  Big  Tree,  thus  explained  the  name: 

"When  we  Kiowas  see  any  one  going  the 
wrong  road  and  into  danger,  we  cry  out  '  Aim- 
day-co — Turn  this  way.'  Our  sister  saw  us  on 
the  wrong  road — she  saw  our  great  danger  and 
called  to  us,  'Turn  this  way.  Turn  to  Jesus.' 
Therefore  we  call  her  '  Aim-day-co.' " 


The  Mission  Field  85 

Soft-syllabled  in  Indian  tongue, 

How  sweet  that  word  to  claim. 
O  who  that  knows  that  race  astray, 
And  knows  full  well  "  the  Jesus  way," 

Will  take  this  fair  new  name  ? 

Those  who  cannot  go  may  "help  go,"  and  the 
warning,  "Turn  this  way,"  may  be  uttered  in 
"  silver  speech,"  as  the  coins  bearing  His  image 
and  superscription  fall  into  the  treasury  by  which 
the  Master  sits  to-day. 

INGATHERINGS 

"He  shall  gather  them  as  the  sheaves  unto  the 
floor,"  might  have  been  spoken  by  Micah  of  the 
souls  in  our  Indian  mission  field. 

"Yet  shall  not  the  least  grain  fall  upon  the 
earth  "  is  as  true  as  when  Amos  said  it,  for  the 
grains  are  "gathered  one  by  one." 

"No  men  on  earth  respond  more  quickly  and 
more  joyously  to  the  revelation  of  God's  saving 
love,  than  the  Indians.  Whole  tribes  have  been 
Christianized.  They  maintain  Christian  homes 
and  schools  with  as  much  stability  and  enthusi- 
asm as  many  a  white  community  with  the  spirit- 
ual momentum  of  many  godly  generations  back 
of  it.  Sixty  thousand  of  these  people  have  al- 
ready become  merged  into  our  national  life  as 
citizens." 

At  least  eight  Protestant  denominations  are  en- 
gaged in  mission  work  among  the  Indians  of  this 
continent— Methodists,  Baptists,  Presbyterians 
(including  North  and  South,  also  Cumberland 


86       Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

Presbyterians,  Reformed  Presbyterians,  and 
other  branches)  Episcopalians,  Congregational- 
ists,  Friends,  Moravians,  and  Swedish. 

Statistics  change  too  often  to  be  accurate,  even 
if  totals  from  each  branch  of  work  were  avail- 
able. We  must  be  content  with  general  state- 
ments of  vast  encouragement.  The  outlook  is 
over  the  whole  broad  field,  and  we  do  not  care 
to  stop  and  particularize  the  windrows  or  take 
the  dimensions  of  the  garners  into  which  the 
grain  is  gathered. 

A  comprehensive  statement  comes  from  the 
Episcopal  Bishop  of  California,  having  super- 
vision over  an  immense  territory  reaching  to 
Alaska.  Bishop  Ridley  says  that  he  remembers 
when  there  was  not  a  Christian  Indian  from  the 
tidal  waters  to  the  river  sources  among  the 
mountains,  but  that  now  there  is  not  a  tribe 
without  church,  school,  and  band  of  praying 
Christians.  He  also  says  that  in  his  extended 
travels  at  home  and  abroad  he  has  not  known 
brighter  Christian  characters  nor  more  moral 
communities  than  among  the  Indians  of  British 
Columbia. 

It  is  said  that  seldom  have  earlier  fruits  been 
reaped  than  in  the  Indian  mission  field.  Within 
a  year  of  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims,  Elder  Cush- 
man  sent  back  report  of  the  "tractable  disposi- 
tion "  of  Indian  youth. 

In  1830,  250  Choctaws  were  received  into  the 
church  during  the  year.  There  was  a  church 
also  among  the  Chickasaws  and  another  among 


The  Mission  Field  87 

the  Cherokees  of  Arkansas.  The  haughty 
Chickasaws  were  known  to  go  ten  miles  to 
evening  meeting,  torch-lighted  along  a  muddy 
footpath.  In  1828  a  teacher  wrote,  ''I  have 
never  seen  any  people  so  hungry  for  the  bread 
of  life."  About  one-fifth  of  the  Stockbridges  at 
Green  Bay  were  Christians,  and  at  this  time, 
three-fourths  of  all  the  church  members  among 
the  missions  of  the  American  Board  were  Indians. 

From  that  earlier  to  this  later  day,  encourage- 
ments have  continued.  In  December,  1904,  the 
Indian  population  of  South  Dakota  was  20,000. 
Of  these,  4,000  were  communicants  in  about  one 
hundred  congregations  of  one  denomination, 
some  districts  containing  fifteen  or  twenty  of 
these.  In  making  a  circuit  of  them  the  mission- 
ary is  obliged  to  travel  from  two  to  four  hundred 
miles.  These  Indian  congregations  gave  last 
year  $8,075. 

The  Pima  Indian  church  in  Sacaton,  has  a 
membership  of  525  members,  the  largest  of  any 
church  in  Arizona.  This  is  one  of  seven  gathered 
by  that  heroic  missionary,  Rev.  Charles  Cook, 
whose  heart  was  so  stirred  by  hearing  of  the 
Pimas  from  an  army  officer,  that  in  1870  he  gave 
up  the  pastorate  of  a  German  church  under  his 
care  in  Chicago,  and  started  out  without  pledge 
of  support  from  any  Board  and  without  money 
enough  to  pay  his  travelling  expenses.  He  took 
a  Bible,  a  rifle,  a  small  melodeon,  and  some  cook- 
ing utensils  with  him.  While  learning  the  lan- 
guage he  supported  himself  as  a  trader.  For  ten 


88       Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

years  his  labours  seemed  vain,  but  now  the  re- 
sults show  1,100  Christian  Indians,  and  Mr.  Cook 
requires  nine  helpers  in  his  work,  six  of  whom 
are  Indians.  In  one  house  of  worship  the  adults 
crowd  the  room  at  one  service,  and  in  the  even- 
ing the  children  fill  it.  Only  in  this  way,  turn 
about,  can  the  house  accommodate  the  numbers. 
An  on-looker  reports,  "It  may  well  be  doubted 
if  such  a  devout  and  worshipful  audience  can  be 
duplicated  in  our  land." 

"If  there  is  anywhere  in  the  United  States 
at  any  time  of  the  year,  a  religious  gathering 
which  surpasses,  or  even  equals,  in  interest,  the 
annual  convocation  of  the  Indian  congregations 
of  South  Dakota,  I  should  like  to  know  it,"  writes 
one  competent  to  speak. 

At  this  time  about  2,000  people  gather  to- 
gether. There  are  ten  departments,  represented 
by  delegates,  and  each  company  bears  aloft  a 
white  standard  with  a  cross,  and  the  motto,  "  By 
this  sign  conquer,"  embroidered  in  different  col- 
ours for  each  division.  These  great  companies 
start  from  their  several  camps,  fall  into  line  be- 
fore bishop  and  clergy  and  march  to  the  place  of 
meeting.  A  photograph  of  this  great  kneeling 
congregation,  engaged  in  solemn  worship  on  the 
vast  level  of  the  blue-arched  prairie,  red  men  and 
white  together,  brothers  all,  is  a  picture  which 
once  seen,  though  but  in  the  compass  of  a  leaflet, 
can  never  be  forgotten. 

The  representatives  of  ninety  congregations 
gather  to  consider  woman's  work  at  this  time, 


The  Mission  Field  89 

each  delegate  anxious  to  tell  her  story  and  to 
present  the  offering  from  her  district.  These 
gifts,  at  the  last  convocation,  varied  from  three 
to  five  hundred  dollars,  and  at  the  close  of  this 
memorable  day  those  sisters  in  red  had  offered 
nearly  $2,500  for  the  missionary  work  in  South 
Dakota  and  elsewhere,  at  a  sacrifice  that  meant 
many  times  what  that  amount  would  have  cost 
white  people  in  moderate  circumstances.  Less 
than  thirty-five  years  of  missionary  work  in  this 
field  by  Bishop  Hare  and  his  clergy,  with  their 
wives,  have  changed  the  fierce,  warlike  heathen 
Sioux  into  these  devout  Christians. 

Perhaps  one  reason  why  Bishop  Hare  is  such  a 
great  favourite  with  Sioux  and  Oneidas  is  that  he 
believes  in  making  the  boys  and  girls  in  the 
schools  as  happy  as  possible.  He  says  that  with 
the  breaking  up  of  pagan  rites,  goes  much  of  the 
heathen  merry-making,  and  there  should  be 
good,  wholesome  fun  to  take  the  place  of  the 
wild  diversions  of  the  old  days.  "  Civilization/' 
says  the  bishop,  "seems  a  hard  taskmaster,  al- 
ways saying  '  Life  is  earnest,  Time  is  short. 
Hurry  up.  Hurry  up.  Report  for  duly  at  seven 
o'clock/  and  so  on — forever.  The  old  Indian 
life  was  like  his  moccasin,  soft  and  easy-fitting. 
The  new  life  is  like  a  tight  boot,  which  rubs  and 
makes  him  sore.  Therefore,  the  more  innocent 
fun  we  can  have  in  our  Indian  boarding-schools, 
the  better,  and  nothing  pleases  me  better,  the 
teachers  and  scholars  know,  than  a  pretty  tab- 
leau or  a  merry  song." 


go       Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

And  be  it  known,  if  so  be  that  any  are  yet  in 
ignorance  as  to  this,  that  the  sour-faced  and 
grumpy  missionaries,  if  ever  there  were  any,  are 
seen  no  more  in  the  land,  and  the  happiest, 
heartiest  of  mortals,  with  unquenchable  cheer  in 
the  midst  of  deepest  dark,  now  go  pleading, 
"Come,  come,  unto  God  my  exceeding  joy." 
The  Indian  school  playgrounds  echo  with  song 
and  happy  laughter,  for  the  truest  gladness  is 
found  in  "the  Jesus  road." 

President  (then  Governor)  Roosevelt's  address 
at  the  Ecumenical  Conference,  rehearsing  his 
personal  experiences  among  the  Indians,  stirs  the 
pulse-beats  even  now,  from  the  printed  page. 

I  spent  twice  the  time  I  intended,  because  I  was  so  interested 
in  seeing  what  was  being  done.  It  took  no  time  at  all  to  see 
that  the  great  factors  in  the  uplifting  of  the  Indians  were  the 
men  who  were  teaching  them  to  be  Christian  citizens. 

When  I  came  back  I  wished  it  had  been  in  my  power  to 
convey  my  experience  to  those  well-meaning  people  who  speak 
about  the  inefficacy  of  missions.  I  think  if  they  could  realize 
but  a  tenth  part  of  the  work  being  done,  they  would  understand 
that  no  more  practical  work,  nor  more  productive  of  fruit  for 
civilization,  could  exist  than  that  carried  on  by  men  and  women 
who  are  giving  their  lives  to  preaching  the  Gospel  to  mankind. 

Out  there  on  the  Indian  reservations,  you  see  every  grade  of 
the  struggle  of  the  last  2,000  years  repeated,  from  the  painted 
heathen  savage,  looking  out  with  unconquerable  eyes  from  the 
reservation  where  he  is  penned,  to  the  Christian  worker  of 
dusky  skin,  but  as  devoted  to  the  work  and  as  emphatically 
doing  his  duty  as  given  him  to  see  it,  as  any  one  here  to-day 
I  saw  a  missionary  gathering  out  there  on  a  reservation,  the 
same  in  kind,  though  not  the  same  in  grade,  as  that  here,  and 
it  was  a  gathering  where  ninety-nine  per  cent,  were  Indians ; 


The  Mission  Field  91 


where  they  had  come  in  wagons  with  ponies,  with  the  lodge 
poles  trailing  behind  them  over  the  prairie  two  hundred  miles, 
to  attend  this  missionary  conference.  They  were  helped  by 
the  missionaries,  but  they  did  almost  all  themselves,  subscribing 
out  of  their  little,  what  they  could,  that  work  might  go  on 
among  their  brethren  who  were  yet  blind.  It  was  a  touching 
sight  to  look  at  and  learn  from. 

You  who  go  throughout  the  world  realize  that  the  best  work 
can  be  done  by  those  who  do  not  limit  it  to  their  own  immedi- 
ate neighbourhood,  that  the  nation  which  spends  most  effort  in 
trying  to  see  that  the  work  is  well  done  at  home,  is  the  one  that 
can  spare  most  effort  trying  to  see  that  duty  is  done  abroad. 

And  yet— there  are  forty-two  of  the  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty-five  existent  tribes,  who  have  not 
even  heard  of  Christ. 

Lift  up  your  eyes,  the  garnered  fullness  see, 
But  note  where  wasting  sheaves  ungathered  lie, 

And  say  not  idly,  "  What  is  that  to  me  ?  " 
For  lo,  the  Harvest  Lord  is  standing  by. 

WORK  OF  WOMAN'S  HOME  MISSIONARY 
SOCIETIES  (See  page  159) 

GLEANINGS 

While  yet  one  unresisted  wrong 

Blurs  half  the  brightness  of  our  stars, 

Our  feet  shall  march  to  holy  wars 
Our  hearts  for  love  of  Christ  be  strong  — 

From  East  to  West,  from  sea  to  sea, 

His  bugles  sound  for  victory. 

— Flora  Best  Harris. 

[The  "farewell"  of  the  young  Nez  Perces  brave,  who  with 
three  companions,  in  1834,  took  the  untrodden  way  to  St.  Louis, 
in  search  of  "  The  Book,"  is  rnc-st  touching.  Falling  into  the 


Q2       Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

hands  of  those  who  showed  them  only  pictures  and  cere- 
monials, they  failed  to  find  the  help  they  sought.] 

"  I  came  to  you  over  a  trail  of  many  moons  from  the  setting 
sun.  My  people  sent  me  to  get  the  white  man's  Book  of 
Heaven.  You  took  me  where  you  worship  the  Great  Spirit 
with  candles,  and  the  Book  was  not  there.  You  showed  me 
the  images  of  good  spirits,  and  pictures  of  the  good  land  be- 
yond, but  the  Book  was  not  among  them  to  tell  us  the  way. 
When  I  tell  my  poor,  blind  people,  after  one  more  snow,  in 
the  big  council,  that  I  did  not  bring  the  Book,  no  word  will  be 
spoken  by  our  old  men,  or  young  braves.  One  by  one  they 
will  rise  up  and  go  out  in  silence.  My  people  will  die  in  dark- 
ness, and  they  will  go  on  the  long  path  to  the  other  hunting 
ground,  and  no  white  man's  Book  to  make  the  path  plain.  I 
have  no  more  words." 

It  was  in  1836  that  Dr.  Marcus  Whitman,  and  Rev.  H.  H. 
Spaulding,  fired  by  the  report  of  this  incident,  took  the  long 
journey,  with  their  brides,  to  the  far-off  field.  Twenty-four 
years  after  Dr.  Whitman's  ride  of  four  thousand  miles  to  save 
the  Northwest  to  our  country,  and  after  his  martyrdom,  Mr. 
Spaulding  returned  to  Idaho,  and  during  three  years  there 
was  such  continuous  interest  that  696  Indian  converts  were 
enrolled. 

Recently  Rev.  James  Hayes,  a  native  pastor,  trained  by  the 
M'Beth  sisters  (who  have  been  called  "  a  walking  theological 
seminary  "),  has  been  sent  by  his  congregation  on  more  than 
one  trip  to  teach  their  old  enemies,  the  Shoshones  and  Ban- 
nocks, the  way  of  life.  The  church  took  up  a  large  offering — 
over  $200 — to  bear  the  pastor's  expenses  ;  then,  deciding  that  an 
elder  and,  later,  that  the  pastor's  wife  should  go  too,  these 
Indians,  who  were  not  troubled  "  concerning  the  collection," 
proceeded  to  take  up  a  second  and  a  third  offering,  all  in  one 
day,  for  this  missionary  expedition. 


The  roll-call  of  missionary  heroes  in  Indian  work  includes 
many  other  names.     Perhaps  the  very  first  who  did  enough  to 


The  Mission  Field  93 

entitle  him  to  be  called  a  missionary,  was  Roger  Williams ;  he 
even  preceded  John  Eliot  in  his  interest,  although  not  in  syste- 
matic work.  It  was  his  insistence  that  the  king  had  no  right 
to  give  away  the  red  men's  land,  that  caused  his  banishment. 

A  later  hero  was  John  Stewart,  missionary  to  the  Wyandots 
in  Ohio.  He  was  a  young  mulatto,  born  of  free  parents, 
blessed  with  a  beautiful  tenor  voice,  who  had  received  some 
education.  He  heard  a  voice  calling  him  to  preach  to  the 
Indians,  and  being  "  not  disobedient  to  the  heavenly  vision,"  he 
devoted  his  life  to  the  work. 


The  translation  of  the  entire  New  Testament  from  the 
original  Greek,  and  a  part  of  the  Old  Testament  from  the 
English  version  into  the  Creek  tongue,  to  be  used  by  the  Mus- 
cogee  and  Seminole  tribes,  was  accomplished  by  Mrs.  A.  E.  W. 
Robertson,  of  Muscogee,  who  has  spent  more  than  half  a  cen- 
tury of  busy,  beautiful  years  among  the  Indians,  and  in  their 
service. 


What  sort  of  Christians  do  the  Indians  make  ?  Outspoken, 
devout,  steadfast  and  intelligent.  In  the  matter  of  benevolence, 
they  put  us  all  to  shame.  A  missionary  writes  of  one  woman 
who  showed  her  twenty-five  cents  tied  in  the  corner  of  her 
shawl.  "  The  coffee  and  sugar  are  calling  for  it,"  she  said, 
"  but  I  have  tied  it  up  tight  so  it  can't  get  away,  for  I  have 
promised  it  to  Jesus." 

A  native  Kiowa  said,  "  This  is  the  first  time  we  ever  heard 
of  the  *  money  road '  for  Jesus,  and  our  hearts  are  glad  that  you 
told  us  about  it.  We  all  want  to  go  this  road."  In  another 
mission  many  pledged  from  five  to  ten  dollars  apiece  for  mis- 
sionary work  and  each  redeemed  his  pledge  promptly.  During 
twenty-five  years,  the  natives  in  one  mission  raised  $17,652  for 
Indian  work. 

"  It  is  well  worth  a  journey  across  the  Dakotas  to  witness 
the  annual  gathering  of  their  women  in  their  missionary  meet- 
ing, presided  over  with  grace,  and  the  program  carried  out 
with  intelligence  and  fervour.  For  years  the  annual  gifts  per 


94      Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

capita  of  these  Sioux  sisters  have  measured  up  to  the  standard 
of  their  more  highly-favoured  sisters  of  the  denomination  to 
which  they  belong." 


Do  the  educated  Indians  go  back  to  their  blankets  ?  Some 
do.  A  number  of  white  people  have  been  known  to  lapse, 
after  high  privilege.  But  the  greater  proportion  remain  stead- 
fast and  "  instead  of  leaning,  they  lift." 

"  In  Hampton  Institute,  New  Year's  morning  is  signalized 
by  the  unveiling  of  the  motto  of  the  senior  class.  When  the 
flag  was  withdrawn  from  the  motto  of  the  class  of  1903,  the 
words  '  Service  our  Mission '  were  disclosed." 

The  Christian  Endeavour  idea  has  spread  among  our  red 
neighbours,  and  proves  to  be  among  them  what  it  is  elsewhere, 
an  incentive  to  noble  service. 


"  The  W.  C.  T.  U.  has  lengthened  its  cords  and  strengthened 
its  stakes  among  the  tribes  and  the  Anti-Saloon  League  has 
come  permanently." 

The  petitions  against  the  removal  of  the  prohibitory  laws 
which  the  Indians  themselves  insisted  upon  in  treaties,  should 
prevail  to  prevent  the  admission  of  Indian  Territory  to  state- 
hood with  the  statute  repealed.  To  do  otherwise  would  be  an 
unspeakable  evil. 

MESSAGE  FROM  THE  WORD 

THE  LAND  FOR  CHRIST 

First  Promise.  Genesis  13  :  17. 

Set  before  you.  Deuteronomy  1 :  8. 

How  to  hold  the  land.  Deuteronomy  5  :  31-33. 

What  sort  of  a  land  ?  Deuteronomy  1 1 : 1 1,  12. 

Why  not  possess  it  ?  Joshua  18:3. 

Not  one  good  thing  failed.  Joshua  23  :  14. 
Much  land  to  be  possessed.      Joshua  13  :  I. 

Watchword  :  Be  Strong.  Joshua  I  :  6,  9. 


The  Mission  Field  95 

OUR  LAND  FOR  CHRIST 

(  Tune  :  Martyn) 
Rise,  ye  children  of  the  King, 

Yours  a  heritage  unpriced. 
Unto  Him  your  tribute  bring, 

Take  this  glorious  land  for  Christ. 
Where  its  mighty  rivers  run, 

Where  its  lakes  majestic  lie, 
May  His  perfect  will  be  done, 

And  His  banner  lifted  high. 

Over  continent  and  coast, 

Islands  far,  and  forest  dark, 
Onward  march,  a  conquering  host, 

Your  Commander's  way  to  mark. 
Over  many  an  alien  race, 

Let  the  flag  of  conquest  fly, 
Bring  them  to  Him,  face  to  face, 

Those  for  whom  He  came  to  die. 

Tarry  not.     Be  strong  in  Him, 

Take  the  land  to  be  possessed. 
He  whose  eye  is  never  dim 

Leads  you  in  your  holy  quest. 
Conquer  only  in  His  Name, 

Follow  only  His  command, 
Falter  not,  till  He  proclaim 

All  this  land  Immanuel's  Land. 

-J.  H.  J. 

MEMORY  TEST 

1.  What  constitutes  the  Indian  mission  field  ? 

2.  Describe  the  traits  which  make  the  Indian  susceptible  to 
the  truth. 

3.  Give  account  of  the  beginnings  of  Christian  work  among 
the  Indians  and  name  some  of  the  pioneers. 


96      Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

4.  Mention  some  benefits  of  organization,  and  give  the  gen- 
eral plan  of  missionary  work  in  its  twofold  aspect,  educational 
and  evangelistic. 

5.  Give  brief  review  of  obstacles  in  the  way  of  effort  and 
achievement. 

6.  What  are  some  of  the  present  encouraging  openings  ? 

7.  How  many,  and  what  denominations  are  engaged  in  mis- 
sion work  among  the  Indians  ? 

8.  What  can  be  said  of  ingatherings  among  Choctaws,  Chick- 
asaws,  Pimas  and  others  ? 

9.  Give  some  incidents  showing  the  eagerness  of  Indians  to 
be  taught. 

10.  Give  the  views  of  President  Roosevelt,  as  to  the  value 
of  missions  among  the  Indians. 

1 1.  What  are  the  special  forms  assumed  by  woman's  mis- 
sionary work  ? 

12.  Give  illustrations  of  its  success. 


THE  SPANISH-SPEAKING  PEOPLE 


Earlier  and  Later  Days 


THE  NAMELESS  FOLD1 

O  Shepherd  of  the  Nameless  Fold,— 

The  blessed  Church  to  be — 
Our  hearts  with  love  and  longing  turn 

To  find  their  rest  in  Thee. 
"  Thy  kingdom  come,"  its  heavenly  walls 

Unseen  around  us  rise, 
And  deep  in  loving  human  hearts 

Its  broad  foundation  lies. 

From  out  our  low,  unloving  state. 

Our  centuries  of  strife, 
Thy  hand,  O  Shepherd  of  the  flock, 

Is  lifting  us  to  life. 
From  all  our  old,  divided  ways 

And  fruitless  fields  we  turn 
To  Thy  dear  feet,  the  simple  law 

Of  Christian  love  to  learn. 

O  holy  kingdom,  happy  Fold  ! 

O  blessed  Church  to  be ! 
Our  hearts  in  love  and  worship  turn 

To  find  ourselves  in  Thee  ; 
Thy  bounds  are  known  to  God  alone, 

For  they  are  set  above ; 
The  length,  the  breadth,  the  height  are  one, 

And  measured  by  His  love. 

— Mary  A.  Lathbury. 

1  By  permission.    The  words  are  set  to  music  in  the  Assembly 
Hymnal. 


IV 
EARLIER  AND  LATER  DAYS 

MANY  of  our  next-door  neighbours  speak 
in  strange  tongues.     The  alien  speech 
does  not  alienate  us,  however,  for  all 
can  read  and  understand  the  sign-manual  of  love, 
and  close  communication  is  thus  established  with 
all  who  are  "  under  our  flag." 

In  earlier  days,  we  heard  the  musical  syllables 
of  the  Spanish  language  echoing  over  remote 
borders,  and,  later,  within  the  far  western  and 
southern  boundaries  of  our  land.  Now,  those 
who  speak  this  tongue  are  gathered  in  great 
numbers  among  us,  especially  in  our  new  island 
possessions.  We  feel  the  tightening  of  the  neigh- 
bourly tie  that  binds.  We  thought,  perhaps,  that 
we  had  quite  enough  to  attend  to  with  the  first 
appeals  "  to  do  good  and  to  communicate  "  with- 
out these  alien  races  in  their  clamorous  need;  but 
long  ago  we  heard  the  voice  of  loving  command 
saying,  "Give  a  portion  to  seven  and  also  to  eight." 
We  have  always  found  that  if  the  eighth  portion 
is  required,  we  can  find  it  to  give.  The  need  was 
never  more  pressing  than  now  among  our  Span- 
ish-speaking people,  and  again  the  familiar  Voice 
is  heard,  "Say  not  unto  thy  neighbour,  Go,  and 
come  again,  and  to-morrow  I  will  give  thee, 
when  thou  hast  it  by  thee."  We  know  very 
99 


loo     Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

well  that  we  have  more  than  "three  loaves"  in 
the  house,  when  the  midnight  knock  is  heard. 
Let  us,  therefore,  "arise  and  give  him  as  much 
as  he  needeth  "  of  this  bread  of  knowledge,  love, 
and  life  which  our  Master  breaks  and  puts  into 
our  hands  to  "distribute  to  the  necessities"  of 
waiting  souls. 

NEW  MEXICO 

This  land  of  "sun,  silence  and  adobe"  is  very 
old.  Over  it  still  broods  the  spirit  and  the  spell 
of  romance  come  down  through  ancient  days. 
Historians  tell  us,  that  since  the  year  of  our  Lord, 
600,  New  Mexico  has  been  the  abode  of  nations. 
In  desolate  places,  half-buried  in  storm-blown 
sand,  the  broken  walls  bear  witness  to  a  popula- 
tion of  many  thousands  even  in  those  days  of  the 
middle  ages  when  crusading  knights  led  the  hosts 
to  the  Holy  Land  to  recover  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 
In  cliff  and  cave  are  written  the  stories  of  remote 
peoples  and  the  symbols  of  their  faith.  Temples 
and  altars  rose  upon  mountain  and  valley  before 
the  century  of  Cortez  and  his  conquests,  and  even 
the  ruins  of  palaces  and  cities  betray  the  perfec- 
tion of  civilization  attained  by  the  native  races  of 
the  Western  Continent.  Within  this  territory 
was  cradled  the  race  over  which  the  Montezumas 
were  kings,  and  the  pages  of  their  history  flash 
with  a  barbaric  splendour  like  that  of  fairy  tales. 
A  perfect  military  system  and  a  system  of  schools 
were  maintained,  and  literature  was  preserved  by 
means  of  hieroglyphics. 


Earlier  and  Later  Days  1O1 

After  Cortez  had  conquered  the  Aztec  empire 
and  established  his  ill-gotten  power  in  Mexico, 
there  came  amazing  tales  of  the  wealth  of  a 
country  to  the  north,  with  "  seven  cities  of  gold," 
and  the  fabulous  reports  led  the  Spanish  leaders 
to  the  discovery  and  invasion  of  New  Mexico. 
Greed  of  gold  and  love  of  adventure  lured  an  ex- 
ploring army  of  Spaniards  which  marched  on  to 
spread  devastation  through  the  new  territory. 
For  years  the  native  tribes  defied  the  invaders, 
yielding  at  last  to  overpowering  numbers,  not  to 
greater  courage,  and  Spanish  rule  ran  through 
three  hundred  years. 

Through  all  this  period  there  was  no  advance 
in  politics,  the  arts,  sciences,  education  or  religion. 
In  1846,  but  one  school  was  to  be  found  in  the 
region  now  known  as  New  Mexico. 

The  very  location  of  many  rich  mines  worked 
by  the  Spaniards  was  forgotten,  and  others  were 
idle.  Implements  of  manufacture  and  of  agri- 
culture snowed  little  advance  since  the  days  of 
the  primitive  forefathers,  and,  as  in  Mexico,  the 
amalgamated  aborigines  and  Spaniards  produced 
a  new  type  of  inhabitant,  the  Mexican.  The 
territory  differed  little  from  the  parent  country, 
from  which  no  natural  boundary  line  divided  it. 

During  the  war  with  Mexico,  General  Kearney 
had  orders  to  push  his  division  across  the  plains 
to  Santa  Fe,  and  take  New  Mexico.  Under  a 
flag  of  truce,  he  tried  all  powers  of  persuasion  to 
induce  the  authorities  to  yield  peaceable  assent  to 
the  "claim  of  annexation,"  but  without  avail. 


1O2    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

An  army  of  7,000,  gathered  by  the  Spanish 
leader,  opposed  the  American's  advance,  but 
dissensions  arose,  panic  followed,  and  nothing 
but  abandoned  breastworks  of  fallen  trees,  and 
nine  pieces  of  artillery  were  in  position  to  defend 
the  capital  against  our  army,  when  the  United 
States  flag  was  raised  in  Santa  Fe.  August  22, 
1846,  General  Kearney  formally  declared  New 
Mexico  to  be  a  part  of  the  United  States.  Thus, 
without  gunshot  or  bloodshed,this  vast  territory 
was  transferred  from  Spanish  dominion  to  the 
freedom  of  American  government. 

The  magnificent  resources  of  the  new  posses- 
sion were  but  little  understood  or  appreciated, 
California  gold,  Nevada  silver  and  Colorado 
grazing  plains  being  counter-attractions.  For 
the  first  quarter-century  of  possession,  this  part 
of  the  United  States  remained  as  it  was  found, 
essentially  foreign  and  uncultivated. 

But  the  tide  of  immigration  has  set  towards 
New  Mexico.  Railroads  have  made  it  accessible, 
its  healthful  climate  has  made  it  attractive,  gov- 
ernment affairs  have  called  to  it  men  of  ability, 
and  legal  settlements  of  land-claims  have  invited 
lawyers,  while  engineers,  capitalists  and  others 
have  aided  in  developing  its  resources.  Schools 
and  churches  are  multiplying,  and  the  pressure  of 
the  American  idea  has  even  compelled  the  Ro- 
manists, who  have  so  long  dominated  it,  to 
take  forward  steps  in  education,  establishing 
schools  of  high  grade  in  some  of  the  principal 
cities. 


Earlier  and  Later  Days  103 

There  are  four  distinct  and  somewhat  an- 
tagonistic classes,  making  up  the  population  of 
New  Mexico.  First  of  these  are  the 

Pueblo  Indians.  These  are  remnants  of  the 
native  race,  whose  history  and  antecedents  lie  in 
a  dim  past,  almost  beyond  our  tracing.  Scattered 
in  seventeen  towns,  possessing  a  common  lan- 
guage in  the  Spanish,  but  using  twelve  or  fifteen 
dialects  among  themselves,  nominally  Roman 
Catholic,  but  more  truly  pagan,  partially  civilized 
and  entirely  self-supporting,  these  Indians  live 
in  the  communal  houses  associated  with  their 
name. 

Roving  Indians.  There  are  from  ten  to  thirty 
thousand  of  these  interlopers,  who  have  drifted 
southward,  having  nothing  in  common  with  the 
Pueblo  Indians,  and  being,  in  their  savagery,  more 
or  less  of  a  menace. 

Americans.  From  9,000  in  1880,  the  American 
population  has  been  steadily  increasing,  and  is 
now  the  dominant  force  in  the  territory. 

Native  Mexicans.  These  are  the  Spanish-speak- 
ing people  that  nowinvite  our  neighbourly  interest. 
They  are  of  mixed  origin,  Spanish  and  Indian, 
and  when  released  from  the  galling  yoke  of  Spain 
they  still  remained  under  priestly  dominion. 
Church  tithes,  and  extra  demands  for  masses, 
penances  and  privileges,  have  drained  their  re- 
sources, till  the  poverty  of  the  masses  is  almost 
inconceivable.  Only  within  the  last  few  years 
have  tables  and  beds  formed  any  part  of  ordinary 
Mexican  house-furnishing,  a  wooden  chair  or 


104    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

box  upon  the  mud  floor  of  the  mud  house,  being 
the  extent  of  conveniences. 

In  dreamy  idleness  the  dwellers  in  this  "  Land 
of  To-morrowness  "  spend  much  of  their  days. 
Their  lack  of  energy  and  management  accounts 
in  part  for  their  poverty,  although  the  still  larger 
measure  is  caused  by  that  extortion  which  makes 
the  ringing  of  church  bells,  baptisms,  burials  and 
every  other  ordinance  and  privilege,  a  burden 
under  priestly  rule. 

How  can  women  sew  who  have  nothing  to 
sew,  or  cook  with  nothing  to  cook  ?  Their  idle- 
ness is  as  pitiable  as  it  is  pernicious.  The  women 
are  densely  ignorant,  as  a  class,  but  few  being 
able  to  read,  while  a  large  proportion  of  the 
children  are  growing  up  with  no  facilities  for 
even  an  elementary  education. 

In  New  Mexico  are  found  all  gradations  be- 
tween the  opposite  types  of  courteous  cavaliers 
and  the  lowest  specimens  of  squalid  wretched- 
ness. The  Penitentes  still  exist  as  a  class,  ex- 
ceeding the  old  Hindus  in  self-imposed  tortures 
even  unto  death.  They  are  nominally  Catholic 
but  are  not  formally  recognized  by  that  church, 
and  even  in  recent  time  their  excesses  are  a 
piteous  appeal  for  light  in  their  pagan  darkness. 

In  many  particulars,  New  Mexico  is  still  a  for- 
eign country,  but  we  must  remember  that  both 
Mexicans  and  Pueblo  Indians  are  American  citi- 
zens, with  rights,  privileges,  and  responsibilities, 
however  ill-fitted  to  exercise  them.  Yet  the 
light  of  promise  shines  over  this  land,  of  unde- 


Earlier  and  Later  Days  105 

veloped,  but  of  unsurpassed  natural  resources, 
and  New  Mexico  "bids  fair  to  become  a  bright 
star  in  the  constellation  of  the  states." 

MISSIONARY  WORK 

"A  hundred  thousand  souls  in  this  sunny  land 
sit  under  the  shadow  of  a  power  that  only  with 
ignorance  can  continue  its  oppression.  When 
shall  these  people  come  forth  and  learn  as  did 
Luther  that  'the  just  shall  live  by  faith  '  ?" 

The  grave  question  of  New  Mexico's  future 
and  the  problem  of  our  Spanish-speaking  neigh- 
bours, must  be  solved  by  varied  forces,  first 
Christianizing  and  then  educational  and  govern- 
mental. The  Christian  churches  of  our  land  have 
given  over  sixty  mission  schools  to  this  territory 
with  over  one  hundred  and  forty  teachers,  and  a 
goodly  number  of  ordained  missionaries,  with 
five  or  six  times  as  many  native  preachers. 

The  people  are  hungry  for  the  Bread  of  Life. 
A  missionary  writes,  "Never  have  I  seen  a  place 
where  they  seemed  more  eager  to  hear  the  Word. 
God  has  put  a  great  commission  upon  His  church. 
No  harder  task  ever  comes  to  our  teachers  on  this 
mission  field  than  to  refuse  admission  to  boys 
and  girls  hungry  for  knowledge."  Many  of  the 
would-be  scholars  are  exceedingly  bright  and 
promising,  and  eager  to  learn  the  language  of 
this,  their  own  country.  When  will  there  be 
money  enough  to  carry  on  the  King's  business, 
as  there  is  always  enough  and  to  spare  for  the 
world's  traffic,  and  for  saloons  and  many  a  snare  ? 


lo6    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

The  mission  schools  in  New  Mexico  have  made 
wonderful  progress  and  have  turned  out  products 
beyond  all  price.  In  one  instance,  a  school  taught 
by  a  man  and  his  wife  transformed  a  region 
twelve  miles  in  diameter.  When  it  was  opened, 
indolence,  vice,  ignorance,  were  dominant,  and 
wretchedness  prevailed.  Now,  after  fourteen 
years  of  effort,  the  farms  are  well  tilled,  American 
ideas  prevail,  the  women  have  become  good 
housekeepers,  whole  families  come  to  church 
upon  the  Sabbath  day,  and  there  have  gone  out 
from  this  centre,  one  colporteur,  six  native  evan- 
gelists, four  Sunday-school  superintendents,  six 
church  officers,  ten  Sunday-school  teachers,  two 
public  school  and  four  mission  school  teachers. 
How  God  has  multiplied  the  seed  sown! 

Industrial  work  is  carried  on  in  connection 
with  these  mission  schools  and  stations  with 
great  success,  and  with  the  high  approval  of  the 
Mexicans  themselves. 

ARIZONA 

Arizona  has  been  termed  "the  Sunset  Land." 
"  Better  were  she  called  'the  Land  of  the  Morn- 
ing,' "  writes  an  interested  visitor,  "  for  unto  her 
has  come  the  dawning  of  a  new  era." 

By  the  magic  of  irrigation,  deserts  are  now  gar- 
dens, bright  with  bloom  and  shaded  by  lofty  trees. 
All  extremes  of  climate  and  vegetation  are  found 
within  Arizona's  borders,  from  arctic  lichens 
to  the  flowers  of  the  torrid  zone,  from  oak 
and  pine  to  orange  and  vine.  "Charles  Dudley 


Earlier  and  Later  Days  107 

Warner  gave  a  new  distinction  to  Southern  Cali- 
fornia by  calling  it  'our  Italy.'  Then  Arizona  is 
'  our  Persia/  for  in  soil,  climate  and  production  it 
is  far  more  like  Persia  than  like  any  other  portion 
of  the  United  States.  People  who  have  travelled 
around  the  world  say  that  its  climate  cannot  be 
equalled.  As  a  fruit-producing  country  and  as  a 
health  resort  Arizona  takes  first  rank." 

The  indigenous  peoples  are  Indian  and  Mexican. 
The  Mexicans  are  Catholic,  almost  to  a  man. 
"  They  live  in  adobes,  with  scarce  any  furniture  in 
their  small  homes.  They  work  when  they  feel 
like  it,  and  the  rest  of  the  time  sit  in  the  sun.  In 
some  homes  where  there  is  scarce  anything  else 
by  way  of  furnishing,  there  is  a  sewing-machine. 
The  women  love  above  all  else  to  sew,  and  many 
of  them  do  beautiful  work." 

The  city  of  Tucson  has  been  called  the  "  Sodom 
of  America,  with  more  wickedness  to  the  square 
inch  than  in  any  other  city  in  the  United  States." 
This  is  explained  by  the  Mexican  love  for  liquor 
and  the  prevalence  of  saloons.  "  In  one  year  the 
owner  of  the  finest  saloon  in  Tucson  cleared 
$80,000,  and  to  celebrate  his  success,  went  up  on 
the  mesa  and  threw  coins  around  on  the  ground 
for  the  people  to  pick  up.  And  this  in  contrast 
with  a  little  Christian  church  that  struggled  for 
twenty  years  to  pay  a  small  debt." 

In  1853,  at  the  time  of  American  occupation, 
Tucson  was  little  more  than  a  trading  post  with 
a  Spanish  garrison.  It  is  quite  a  modern  city  to- 
day, although  "the  old  town "  remains  almost 


lo8    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

unchanged,  with  narrow  streets  and  mud-walled 
houses,  "  fitting  symbols  of  the  lives  of  the  Mex- 
icans who  live  in  them,  content  to  exist  as  their 
fathers  did,  observing  the  same  customs."  There 
are  between  3,000  and  4,000  Mexicans  in  Tucson, 
and  about  14,000  in  Arizona,  or  one-third  of  the 
population.  Some  of  these  are  leading  business 
men,  and  some  are  clerks  and  tradesmen,  but  a 
large  part  of  the  people  are  still  destitute,  ignorant 
and  neglected.  While  Catholicism  is  strong, 
many  Mexicans  are  unbelievers,  without  any 
Christian  faith  whatever.  A  recent  census  shows 
the  children  of  school  age  to  be  3,000,  of  whom 
one  third  are  Mexicans.  The  Catholic  bishop  re- 
sides in  Tucson,  and  strengthens  the  hold  of 
Romanism  upon  the  people.  The  principal  Prot- 
estant work  in  Tucson  is  among  the  Pima  and 
Papago  Indians,  for  whom  the  Presbyterians  have 
a  large  and  flourishing  school. 

"  This  is  Arizona.  What  are  we  going  to  do  for  her  ?  She 
is  calling  to  us.  Her  women  are  pleading  for  a  school  in  which 
to  learn  Christian  ways  of  keeping  house.  Her  men  are  call- 
ing. Romanism  has  kept  them  in  the  dust  long  enough.  God 
is  calling  us.  If  you  could  see  the  wistful  look  upon  the  faces 
of  the  Mexican  and  Indian  women,  you  would  recognize  it  as 
the  touch  of  God's  finger  in  their  lives  for  something  better." 

"  O  Arizona,  sun-kissed  land, 
Thy  day  of  birth  is  near  at  hand." 

CALIFORNIA 

When  all  of  the  Southwest  now  occupied  by 
New  Mexico,  Arizona  and  Southern  California, 


Earlier  and  Later  Days  109 

passed  into  the  possession  of  our  government,  the 
deep-rooted  conditions  could  not  be  legislated  out 
of  existence,  nor  immediately  changed. 

Our  Mexican  neighbours  who  face  the  Golden 
Gate  are  in  great  need  and  have  heretofore,  in 
comparison  with  those  nearer,  been  "  overlooked 
in  the  distribution  of  the  bread."  They  are 
within  our  reach  and  it  is  for  us  to  pass  the 
sacrament  on  to  them,  with  the  gracious  invita- 
tion, "Eat,  O  friends,  drink,  yea,  drink  abun- 
dantly, O  beloved." 

A  missionary  worker  who  has  had  exceptional 
opportunities  and  experience  in  overseeing  and  in 
observing  this  field,  writes  thus  concerning  it: 

That  the  people  are  not  generally  intelligent  in  business 
matters,  and  that  they  need  instruction  in  clean,  honest  living 
and  dealing,  is  due  to  the  fact  that  they  have  been  neglected, 
crowded  aside,  by  the  dominance  of  greed;  we  find  them  to-day 
a  people  who  should  have  our  sympathy  and  help.  They  love 
their  children  and  would  have  them  educated  in  a  way  to  pre- 
pare them  for  a  different  kind  of  life  from  that  which  the  parents 
have  known.  The  best  help  for  these  young  people  is  given 
by  the  Christian  boarding-schools,  where  they  are  instructed  in 
all  kinds  of  work,  and  have  school  advantages  combined  with 
home  life.  From  personal  knowledge  I  can  speak  of  most  sat- 
isfactory results  among  the  girls  in  New  Mexico  and  California. 
The  people  are  polite,  and  usually  gentle.  Taking  the  girls 
while  young,  we  find  they  have  bright  minds  and  willing 
hands. 

Some  years  ago  these  people  were  land-owners,  or  labourers 
for  those  who  kept  them  in  ignorance  which  is  bondage.  To- 
day a  few  have  power,  but  the  multitudes  are  oppressed  and  in- 
dolent. Give  them  a  new  hope  by  opening  doors  of  usefulness 
and  a  change  will  be  seen.  The  girls  must  be  taught  to  make 


no    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

better  homes.  Intelligent  mothers  will  have  different  sons  to 
help  the  next  generation.  Only  in  this  way  can  they  be  desira- 
ble American  citizens. 

The  rum  foe  is  abroad.  The  first  thing  to  greet  the  eye  on 
entering  one  of  their  towns  is  the  saloon-sign,  seen  till  one 
thinks  it  must  be  the  only  business  in  town.  Can  we  expect 
anything  good,  clean  and  desirable,  where  this  curse  is  in  the 
lead? 

The  Methodist  and  Presbyterian  churches  have 
entered  the  field  of  Spanish-speaking  people  in 
Los  Angeles,  and  both  denominations  have 
schools  there.  There  are  also  a  number  of  mis- 
sion schools  for  these  people  of  foreign  tongue, 
in  Colorado. 

"  Conditions  among  these  people  in  California 
do  not  change  rapidly.  Their  number  is  greater, 
for  carloads  of  Mexicans  have  been  shipped  into 
the  state — 'shipped'  is  the  literal  word  for  it." 
Some  day,  may  there  be  a  better  story  to  tell 
about  these  neighbours  of  ours. 

WORK  OF  WOMAN'S  HOME  MISSIONARY 
SOCIETIES  (See  page  159) 

MEXICAN  NOTES 

Those  inclined  to  regard  New  Mexico  as  a  land  of  cacti, 
sage-brush,  and  little  else,  would  do  well  to  read  the  latest  gov- 
ernment reports. 

The  time  may  come  when  New  Mexico  will  have  as  much 
wealth  with  which  to  send  out  missionaries,  as  Western  Penn- 
sylvania. A  senator,  arguing  against  statehood,  said:  "When 
God  made  the  world,  He  said  it  was  good.  Then  He  took  up 
some  scraps  that  were  left  and  made  New  Mexico  and  Arizona." 
But  this  senator,  like  other  agnostics,  doesn't  know  what  our 


Earlier  and  Later  Days  1 1 1 

God  can  make  out  of  scraps.  He  did  not  know  of  the  greatest 
pine  forests,  the  greatest  deposits  of  coal  in  the  United  States, 
found  in  New  Mexico.  There  are  sheep  enough  here,  if  placed 
touching  each  other,  to  make  a  flock  reaching  from  San  Fran- 
cisco to  New  York.  The  choicest  fruit  and  a  marvellous  cli- 
mate may  be  found  here.  Don't  be  afraid,  brethren,  that  the 
money  you  put  into  home  missions  in  New  Mexico  is  going 
into  a  bag  with  holes.  It  will  yield  a  bountiful  harvest. — The 
Herald  and  Presbyter. 

Some  people  now  say,  "  We  have  been  sending  missionaries 
to  New  Mexico  for  years.  Haven't  you  got  the  work  done 
yet  ?  Why  don't  you  get  on  faster  ?  "  For  one  reason,  because 
for  every  teacher  and  preacher  sent,  the  American  people  has 
furnished  a  score  of  gamblers,  saloon-keepers  and  bad  men. 

"  Why  do  you  give  a  start  when  I  speak  to  you  ?  "  asked  an 
American  friend  of  a  New  Mexican  neighbour.  "  The  first 
Americans  who  came  were  bad  and  dangerous  men,"  was  the 
reply,  "  and  I  can't  get  over  feeling  startled  at  sound  of  the 
American  voice,  though  I  have  perfect  confidence  in  you." 
Over  against  this  indictment,  I  am  glad  to  put  the  testimony 
concerning  a  home  missionary,  "  He  was  a  good  man.  He 
was  a  good  neighbour.  He  never  once  deceived  us."  I  am 
glad  also  to  testify  to  the  character  of  some  noble  examples  of 
business  men,  who,  without  knowing  it,  are  the  best  of  mission- 
aries to  these  people.  Spite  of  all  drawbacks,  and  considering 
from  whence  they  have  come,  the  Mexicans  are  a  rising 
people.— Rev.  J.  H.  Heald. 

The  missionary  was  seated  at  the  organ  one  morning,  sur- 
rounded by  her  little  Mexican  pupils,  when  Enrique  touched 
her  arm  and  said,  pointing  to  a  new  boy,  "  He  no  song."  It 
went  to  the  missionary's  heart  because  it  expresses  a  great  truth 
concerning  these  children  from  the  wretched  adobes.  Dear 
friends,  you  who  have  a  song,  will  you  not  lend  your  aid  to 
give  the  child  in  our  midst  a  song  too  ?  "  Service  is  the  key- 
note in  the  Master's  kingdom." — Mrs.  Anna  Kent. 


112    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

Rev.  E.  H.  Stover  writes  from  Alcalde  concerning  the  equip- 
ment of  a  mission  school :  "  Not  to  be  overlooked  is  a  flagstaff, 
fifty  feet  high,  from  which  floats  a  fine  eight-foot  flag,  the  only 
recognizable  sign  of  American  civilization  as  you  pass  the  town. 
We  believe  that  « it  should  not  be  left  to  Boston  boys  alone  to 
salute  the  old  flag,  but  that  every  school  in  the  land  should  fol- 
low the  patriotic  custom,'  and  we  live  up  to  our  belief.  In  the 
salute  '  We  give  our  heads  and  our  hearts  to  our  God  and  our 
country — one  country,  one  language,  one  flag,'  the  boys  fling 
their  hats  high,  as  they  shout « one  flag.'  " 


In  1889  there  stood  before  the  meeting  of  a  Woman's  Home 
Mission  Board  in  New  York  City  the  grandson  of  Father 
Gomez.  In  his  hands  he  held  the  old,  worn  Bible  which 
Gomez,  through  some  providence  hearing  of  the  Word  of  God, 
travelled  150  miles  to  purchase,  borrowing  a  yoke  of  oxen,  and 
leading  one,  which  he  sold  for  twenty-five  dollars  to  pay  for  the 
Book.  It  led  him  to  renounce  Romanism,  though  when  he 
bought  it  he  did  not  so  much  as  know  of  the  existence  of  a 
Protestant  church. 

An  old  man,  promised  that  a  school  should  be  opened  in  his 
village,  or  plaza,  "  sometime,"  exclaimed :  "  Sometime  !  Some- 
time I  be  dead !  "  The  pathetic  plea,  repeated  in  the  East,  se- 
cured a  school  at  once. — Rev.  D.  E.  Finks. 


In  early  years  individual  efforts  were  made  to  begin  Gospel 
work  among  the  Spanish,  but  the  one  who  really  established  a 
permanent  Protestant  mission,  was  a  Christian  Mexican  from 
Mexico  City,  Senor  Antonio  Diaz,  a  man  of  fervent  spirit  and 
consecration.  Members  of  this  worker's  large  family  are  still 
interested  in  the  work  in  Los  Angeles.  The  scholars  are  so 
happy  to  come  back  to  the  Los  Angeles  School  when  it  reopens 
after  vacation,  that  one  girl  expressed  it  thus :  "  I  am  so  glad  to 
be  back  in  school.  I  like  it  better  than  my  house,  it  is  my 


Earlier  and  Later  Days  113 

home."  A  glance  at  the  dismal  places  where  many  live  would 
make  it  clear  that  such  houses  might  be  gladly  left  for  such  a 
home  as  the  school  offers. 


This,  also,  from  California :  "  If  applications  for  admission  to 
our  Girls'  Home  can  be  looked  upon  as  an  index  of  apprecia- 
tion of  our  work,  we  may  be  fully  satisfied  this  year.  The 
mother  of  one  of  our  oldest  girls  visited  us  last  week  bringing 
with  her  three  more  of  the  family  and  only  regretting  that  the 
baby  was  yet  too  young.  While  most  of  the  people  are  poor, 
we  see  a  great  advance  from  year  to  year  in  their  willingness 
to  help  in  return  for  what  is  done  for  their  children." 


From  one  of  a  number  of  schools  for  Spanish-speaking  people 
in  Colorado  comes  this  word :  "  There  has  been  a  noticeable 
increase  of  interest  on  the  part  of  the  pupils,  all  making  rapid 
advance.  The  schoolgirls  were  quite  enthusiastic  over  their 
quilt-piecing,  some  making  an  entire  quilt  by  hand,  the  sewing 
of  which  would  do  credit  to  any  children  of  the  same  age. 
They  were  very  proud  when  allowed  to  take  home  the  result  of 
their  labours  as  '  their  very  own.' 

"  A  little  Mexican  girl  was  invited  to  visit  me,  and  on  arriving 
she  put  down  a  small  bundle  saying,  '  My  grandmother  says  I 
may  stay  with  you  all  the  time.'  I  did  keep  her  several  days, 
to  her  delight.  I  never  saw  a  happier  child  than  she.  Julian- 
ita  is  an  orphan  and  her  grandparents  care  for  her  when  there 
is  no  other  place  open.  I  have  been  much  impressed  with  the 
fact  that  orphan  children  readily  find  a  home,  poor  as  the  peo- 
ple are.  A  more  sympathetic  people  I  have  never  seen  than 
these  Mexicans.  The  majority  of  those  I  know  have  orphan 
children  in  their  care." 


Another  teacher  in  Colorado  writes  of  the  interest  a  native 
convert  has  shown  in  the  destitute  people  of  a  neighbouring 
plaza,  or  village,  where  he  went  to  sell  potatoes.  He  said  he 
never  saw  such  ignorance  and  it  made  his  heart  ache.  There 


1 1 4    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

was  no  school  of  any  kind,  nor  could  he  find  a  book  in  the 
town.  Children  ran  wild  and  the  people  were  like  animals. 
Once  a  month  the  padre  came,  the  people  said,  to  collect  dues 
and  say  a  few  prayers,  and  go  on.  The  poverty  of  the  people 
was  beyond  description. 


A  Spanish-English  letter  from  a  Mexican  boy  to  his  teacher  : 
"  I  am  sorry  to  tell  you  that  my  Bible  is  out  of  me.  One  of 
my  friends  went  to  Kansas  and  he  took  it  with  him ;  and  I 
could  say  nothing  to  him  because  he  was  very  much  affectionate 
to  the  reading  of  it  and  believe  it  too.  But  I  am  going  to  send 
for  another  one." 

HOME  MISSIONS 

(  Tune  :   Austria.) 
Goodly  were  thy  tents,  O  Israel, 

Spread  along  the  riverside, 
Bright  thy  star,  which  rose  prophetic, 

Herald  of  dominion  wide ; 
Fairer  are  the  homes  of  freemen 

Scattered  o'er  our  broad  domain; 
Brighter  is  our  rising  day-star, 

Ushering  in  a  purer  reign. 

Welcome  to  the  glorious  freedom 

That  our  fathers  hither  brought 
Welcome  to  the  priceless  treasure 

That  with  constant  faith  they  sought. 
See,  from  every  nation  gathering, 

Swarming  myriads  throng  our  coasts, 
Hear,  with  steady  steps  advancing, 

Ceaseless  tread  of  countless  hosts. 

God  of  Nations,  our  Preserver, 

Hear  our  prayers,  our  counsels  bless, 

Lift  o'er  all  Thy  radiant  banner, 
On  these  souls  Thy  love  impress ; 


Earlier  and  Later  Days 


From  Thy  throne  of  boundless  blessing, 

O'er  our  land  Thy  spirit  pour ; 
In  the  grandeur  of  Thine  empire, 

Reign  supreme  from  shore  to  shore. 

—Samuel  Wolcott. 

MESSAGE  FROM  THE  WORD 
SALVATION 


Who  shall  see  it  ? 

The  author. 

The  personal  element. 

To  whom  ? 

The  same  to  all. 

No  hope  elsewhere. 

Where  ? 

Without  discrimination. 

Through  whom  ? 

Who  shall  proclaim  ? 

How  many  ? 

Special  ministers. 

General  commission. 

The  watchmen's  mis- 
sion. 

Are  there  few  that  be 
saved  ? 


(All  flesh)  Luke  3 :  6. 

(Our  God)  Psalm  68 :  20. 

(My  salvation)  Psalm  27  :  I. 

(All  believing)  Titus  2:  II. 

(Common  salvation)  Jude  3. 

(In  God  only)  Jeremiah  3  :  23. 

(Midst  of  earth)  Psalm  74  :  12. 

(Ends  of  earth)  Psalm  98 :  2,  3. 

(All  kings)  Psalm  72:  II. 

(Poor  and  needy)  Psalm  72:  12,  13. 

(Christ  only)  Romans  5  :  6,  8,  9. 

(Messengers)  Isaiah  20 :  7. 

(Many  or  few)  I  Samuel  14  :  6. 

(Priests)  Psalm  132:  16. 

(Him  thatheareth)  Revelation  22:  17. 

(The   Lord's  remembrancers)    Isaiah 

62:  6,  7. 
(Unnumbered       hosts)       Revelation 

7 :  9,  10. 


SENTIMENTS 

{To  be  repeated  after  Bible  Lesson.) 
"  Why  they  have  never  known  the  way  before, 
Why  hundreds  stand  outside  Thy  mercy's  door, 
I  know  not ;  but  I  ask,  dear  Lord,  that  Thou 
Wouldst  lead  them  now." 

"  The  goal  for  the  Church  of  Christ  is  nothing  less  than  the 
subjection  of  all  things  to  Him,  « the  gathering  together  in  one, 
all  things  in  Christ,  both  which  are  in  heaven  and  which  are  in 


ii6    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

earth.'  This  is  God's  eternal  plan,  and,  in  spite  of  all  seeming 
interruptions  and  delays,  nothing  can  prevent  its  glorious  con- 
summation." 

"  Let  us  seek,  year  by  year,  to  grow  into  fuller  realization  of 
our  responsibilities  and  privileges  as  co-workers  with  God. 
What  else  will  make  life  appear  noble  and  worth  living? 
'  Behold,  Thy  servants  are  ready  to  do  whatsoever  my  Lord  the 
King  shall  appoint.' " 

O  God,  make  of  us  what  Thou  wilt ; 

Guide  Thou  the  labour  of  our  hand ; 
Let  all  our  work  be  surely  built 

As  Thou,  the  architect,  hast  planned. 

—Henry  Van  Dyke,  D.  D. 

And  they  that  are  far  off  shall  come  and  build  in  the  temple 
of  the  Lord.— Zech.  6  :  15. 

MEMORY  TEST 

1.  Describe  New  Mexico,  tell  how  it  was  taken  under  our 
flag,  and  mention  kinds  and  character  of  population. 

2.  Give  some  account  of  missionary  operations  in  this  field. 

3.  What   can   you    say  of  Arizona — its   greatest  menace, 
highest  need,  and  special  claim  ? 

4.  What  are  the  prevailing  characteristics  of  the  Mexicans 
in  California  ? 

5.  What  has  been  done  for  these  people  and  what  remains 
to  be  done  ? 

6.  What  is  the  special  work  of  the  women  of  the  church  for 
these  Spanish-speaking  people  ? 


CUBA 


The  Lord  reigneth ;  let  the  earth  rejoice ; 

Let  the  multitude  of  isles  be  glad. 
Clouds  and  darkness  are  round  about  Him : 

Righteousness  and  judgment  are  the  foundation  of 
His  throne. 

Sing  unto  the  Lord  a  new  song, 

And  His  praise  from  the  end  of  the  earth; 
Ye  that  go  down  to  the  sea,  and  all  that  is  therein, 

The  isles  and  the  inhabitants  thereof. 
Let  the  wilderness  and  the  cities  thereof  lift  up  their  voice, 

The  villages  that  Kedar  doth  inhabit ; 
Let  the  inhabitants  of  Sela  sing, 

Let  them  shout  from  the  top  of  the  mountains. 
Let  them  give  glory  unto  the  Lord, 

And  declare  His  praise  in  the  islands. 

— From  Psalm  gj  and  Isaiah  42,  as  arranged  in 
The  Modern  Readers'1  Bible. 


V 
CUBA 

THE  Woman's  Home  Missionary  societies 
and    other    organizations   with    similar 
purpose  are  especially  concerned  with 
our  obligations  to  the  Spanish-speaking  people 
upon  the  wind-swept  islands  that  clamour  for 
neighbourly  help.     If  they  cannot  literally  beat 
upon  our  doors,  they  can  call  through  our  win- 
dows, and  the  cry  of  need  will  not  be  hushed 
until  the  want  is  supplied. 

Cuba,  "the  Pearl  of  the  Antilles,"  is  included  in 
these  studies  because,  for  convenience  of  admin- 
istration, some  denominations  place  it  under  the 
care  of  their  home  mission  boards,  the  Philippines, 
for  the  same  reason,  being  usually  assigned  to  the 
boards  of  foreign  missions.  The  island  is  the 
extreme  western  peak  of  a  submarine  mountain 
range,  running  southeasterly  for  nearly  two  thou- 
sand miles. 

The  position  is  strategic.  Key  West,  Florida, 
is  ninety-six  miles  distant,  and  Yucatan  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty  miles,  while  Haiti  and  Jamaica 
are  visible  from  the  east.  When  the  Central 
American  isthmus,  several  hundred  miles  south, 
shall  be  cut,  Cuba  will  lie  in  the  course  of  the 
maritime  commerce  between  the  two  oceans, 
with  ample  anchorage  for  the  fleets  of  the  world 
in  her  splendid  harbours. 
119 


12O    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

Discovered  by  Columbus  a  fortnight  after  his 
first  notable  achievement,  this  island-pearl,  set 
about  with  seven  hundred  and  thirty  smaller 
jewels  upon  the  sapphire  sea,  was  written  down 
in  the  explorer's  diary  as  "the  most  beautiful 
land  ever  beheld  by  human  eyes."  Annexed  to 
Spain,  and  visited  three  times  by  Columbus  after 
its  discovery,  its  aborigines  were  found  to  be  a 
gentle  and  peaceable  people,  singularly  free  from 
the  vices  of  their  neighbours  near  by. 

Four  hundred  years  of  Spanish  misrule  left  sad 
results  and  records.  In  two  centuries  the  en- 
slaved natives  were  almost  entirely  destroyed. 
Negro  slaves  were  imported  to  take  their  places, 
and  for  two  centuries  poverty  and  misery  in- 
creased under  priestly  rule  and  extortion,  while 
the  natural  resources  of  the  island  were  left  un- 
developed and  the  means  of  education  were 
pitifully  meagre. 

In  1762  the  English  captured  Havana  and 
opened  that  port  to  foreign  trade.  In  seventy- 
two  years  there  were  ten  revolts  against  the 
tyranny  of  Spain.  The  Ten  Years'  War,  begin- 
ning in  1868,  cost  the  island  almost  a  billion  of 
dollars. 

The  last  revolution  occurred  in  1895.  The  in- 
surgents, under  the  leadership  of  such  men  as 
Gomez,  Garcia  and  Maceo,  formed  a  government 
and  organized  a  guerilla  warfare  which  "the  un- 
speakable Weyler"  was  sent  by  Spain  to  crush. 
He  failed  to  overpower  the  actual  rebels,  but  he 
took  vengeance  upon  the  innocent,  driving  the 


Cuba  121 

pacificos,  or  peaceful  peasants,  from  their  little 
farms,  and  concentrating  them  in  the  towns, 
where  starvation  and  massacre  awaited  them. 

A  passionate  love  of  country  fills  and  fires  the 
Cuban  heart.  Against  this  patriotism,  against 
commanders  and  soldiers,  and  the  defenseless 
people,  General  Weyler  set  himself  with  a  cruelty 
almost  incredible,  and  soon  spread  almost  uni- 
versal wreck.  Within  a  few  months  200,000 
people  died  in  Spanish  prisons. 

A  war  of  intervention  on  the  part  of  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  became  inevitable. 

"All  the  lands  which  had  once  called  Spain 
master,  had  passed  from  the  hands  of  men  who 
could  not  use  them  into  the  hands  of  those  who 
could.  The  expulsion  of  Spain  from  the  Antilles 
was  merely  the  last  and  final  step  of  the  inexor- 
able movement  in  which  the  United  States  has 
been  engaged  for  nearly  a  century." 

"The  merciful  impulse  of  the  American  peo- 
ple" had  its  way.  On  the  nth  of  April,  1898, 
President  McKinley  sent  a  message  to  Con- 
gress recommending  intervention.  After  a  sin- 
gularly calm  and  just  consideration  of  the  whole 
matter,  and  a  marvellous  control  on  the  part  of 
the  people  at  large,  Congress  declared,  upon 
April  iQth,  that  "The  people  of  Cuba  are,  and  of 
right  ought  to  be,  free  and  independent,"  and 
authorized  the  President  to  call  out  the  entire 
land  and  naval  force  of  the  country  to  secure  this 
freedom.  In  a  few  days  our  fleet  set  sail  upon 
its  mighty  and  merciful  errand.  The  story  of 


122    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

our  neighbour's  deliverance  is  recent  and  familiar 
history. 

"  Uncle  Sam,  having  performed  his  first  duty 
in  the  premises,"  writes  John  Kendrick  Bangs 
in  "Uncle  Sam,  Trustee,"  "another  important 
one  remained.  He  had  rescued  a  helpless  child 
from  the  hands  of  a  brutal  father.  It  now  be- 
came his  office  to  nurse  the  sickly  infant  back  to 
health  again,  to  start  him  along  the  road  to  pros- 
perity, and  to  administer  his  property  until  such 
time  as  he  should  be  able  to  care  for  his  own. 
Uncle  Sam,  Neighbour,  was  transformed  into 
Uncle  Sam,  Trustee." 

The  sanitary  conditions  of  the  island  were  des- 
perate. Houses  and  highways  were  filled  with 
the  dead  and  dying,  starvation  stared  from  every 
corner,  and  cleanliness  was  an  unknown  virtue. 
The  marvellous  work  of  sanitation  which  has 
been  the  wonder  of  the  world  went  forward 
with  amazing  speed.  Schools  were  established, 
order  was  evolved  out  of  chaos,  and  the  island 
settled  down  to  the  enjoyment  of  peace. 

The  humane  spirit  and  policy  shown  by  the 
American  administration  in  Cuba  for  our  neigh- 
bours' uplifting,  was  a  missionary  spirit  to  be  held 
in  lasting  and  grateful  remembrance.  In  the 
stamping  out  of  pestilence,  the  promotion  of 
health  and  comfort,  the  regulation  of  affairs,  and 
the  change  of  public  opinion  from  cringing  ser- 
vility to  an  attitude  of  respect  and  affection,  the 
victories  of  peace  have  far  exceeded  those  of  war. 

Cuba  was    a    well-organized    republic,    with 


Cuba  123 

President  Raima  and  a  full  cabinet  at  its  head, 
when,  in  May,  1903,  American  troops,  no  longer 
needed  for  protection,  were  withdrawn  from  the 
island. 

White,  black  and  coloured  Cubans,  Spaniards, 
and  foreigners,  make  up  the  million  and  a  half  of 
Cuba's  present  population.  White  Cubans,  of 
Spanish  extraction,  consider  themselves  natives. 
They  are  the  land-owners,  and  many  were  once 
wealthy.  Under  oppression  they  became  pov- 
erty-stricken and  filled  with  hatred  towards  their 
oppressors.  Coloured  Cubans  are  a  mixture  of 
the  white  and  black  races.  Black  Cubans,  de- 
scended from  the  earlier  imported  negroes,  are 
said  to  be  more  industrious  than  the  negroes  of 
other  West  India  Islands.  The  black  and  col- 
oured Cubans  are  the  labourers.  Foreigners, 
exclusive  of  about  thirty  thousand  Chinese,  are 
in  Cuba  for  mercantile  purposes,  and  fofm  a 
small  per  cent,  of  the  population. 

The  better  class  of  Creoles,  or  white  Cubans, 
are  said  to  include  the  finest  types  of  manly 
independence  and  valour,  and  the  highest  types 
of  womanly  beauty  in  the  island.  They  have 
strong  traits  of  character,  including  honesty, 
family  attachment,  hospitality,  a  respect  for 
others'  rights,  and  a  strong  desire  for  the  edu- 
cation of  their  sons  and  daughters. 

MEDICAL  WORK 

The  need  of  hospital  service  and  general  med- 
ical work  in  Cuba  made  an  urgent  appeal  to  the 


124    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

Christian  sympathies  of  America.  The  sad  for- 
tunes of  war  left  upon  the  island  multitudes  of 
sick,  wounded,  maimed  and  dying,  and  the  un- 
speakable horrors  of  unsanitary  conditions  fos- 
tered and  spread  disease  everywhere.  But  the 
medical  work  has  not  been  largely  undertaken 
by  churches  or  missionary  boards,  but  has  rested 
with  the  military  guardians  and  promoters  of 
peace  and  health.  In  Havana  alone  there  were, 
before  the  Spanish-American  War,  thirty-three 
hospitals,  asylums,  and  sanitariums,  but  all  were 
under  Romanist  control,  and  not  one  of  them  was 
abreast  of  the  times  in  equipment  or  administra- 
tion. Nurses  were  very  difficult  to  obtain,  and 
the  sick  were  left  to  care  for  themselves,  largely, 
without  modern  alleviations  and  appliances. 
Vigorous  and  drastic  measures  soon  had  good 
effect.  Nurses  were  brought  from  the  United 
States,  training  was  provided  for  native  nurses, 
manifold  abuses  were  corrected,  new  hospitals 
built,  and  "the  afflicted  have  found  comfort  in  the 
arms  of  Uncle  Sam,  for  which  they  are  grateful." 
Says  John  Kendrick  Bangs,  "I  wish  no  more 
beautiful  sight  than  that  which  repeatedly  met 
my  eyes  when,  while  inspecting  various  institu- 
tions, either  with  General  Wood  or  Major  Greble, 
the  soft  little  hands  of  the  children  crept  trustingly 
into  the  brawny  grasp  of  the  soldier;  nor  shall  I 
soon  forget  the  glances  of  heartfelt  gratitude  that 
went  out  from  the  prostrate  on  many  a  hospital 
cot,  to  those  two  Samaritan  gentlemen  whose 
official  and  personal  care  it  has  been  to  relieve 


Cuba  125 

distress  in  all  its  forms,  and  to  bring  sunshine 
into  thousands  of  darkened  souls." 

Perhaps  in  nothing  has  our  nation  more  truly 
proved  its  right  to  the  title,  Christian,  than  in  its 
intervention  in  behalf  of  Cuba,  and  its  magnifi- 
cent and  compassionate  service  in  the  relief  and 
restoration  called  for  by  the  heart-breaking  con- 
ditions in  the  island. 

A  wide-open  door  is  now  set  before  the 
churches,  in  hospital  and  dispensary  work  allied 
to  the  teaching  of  that  Word  which  brings  heal- 
ing to  the  soul  while  caring  for  the  body. 

SCHOOL  WORK 

It  is  estimated  that  under  Spanish  rule  not 
more  than  one-tenth  of  the  Cuban  children  re- 
ceived any  education  whatever.  In  the  later 
period,  popular  teaching  was  at  its  lowest  ebb. 
Not  a  single  public  schoolhouse  was  to  be  found, 
teachers — always  poorly  paid — lived  in  poverty, 
appliances  were  everywhere  lacking,  attendance 
was  insignificant,  and  illiteracy  alarming. 

"In  less  than  four  years,  American  energy  has 
planted  upon  a  worse  than  barren  soil,  a  public 
school  system  which  would  be  a  credit  to  any 
portion  of  New  England,  and,  by  labour  most  in- 
credible in  its  demands  upon  those  who  control 
the  situation,  has  placed  within  reach  of  young 
Cubans,  opportunities,  the  like  of  which  have 
been  denied  their  ancestors  from  time  immemo- 
rial. In  the  closing  days  of  his  administration 
the  United  States  superintendent  of  the  Depart- 


126    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

ment  of  Education  reported  3,650  teachers  under 
its  control,  conducting  schools  in  2,800  buildings, 
educating,  in  all  branches,  172,000  children." 

This  has  been  our  nation's  missionary  work. 
But  the  Christian  church  has  been  quick  to  fol- 
low, and  to  dot  the  field  with  mission  schools 
that  are  centres  of  light  to  the  groping  multi- 
tudes, ready  to  break  loose  from  the  bondage  of 
Romanism,  and  longing  for  true  light  and  free- 
dom. "The  Liberty  Religion"  is  the  Cuban 
term  for  the  Gospel  brought  them  by  mission- 
aries from  our  favoured  land. 

"The  hope  of  success  in  religious  work," 
writes  a  missionary,  "is  certainly  with  the 
young.  In  a  good-sized  audience  lately,  there 
were  scarce  a  half-dozen  people  above  twenty 
years  of  age.  All  listened  with  closest  attention. 
The  dear  children  everywhere  are  easily  gathered 
into  classes  to  be  taught  of  Him  who  said  '  Suffer 
them  to  come."1 

One  of  the  earliest  missionaries  to  enter 
Havana,  Dr.  J.  Milton  Greene,  thus  sets  forth 
the  importance  of  essentially  Christian  schools 
in  Cuba: 


In  the  wholesale  establishment  of  public  schools,  no  provi- 
sion has  been  made  to  train  competent  teachers,  at  least  two  good 
normal  colleges  being  greatly  needed.  A  tendency  to  regard 
appearance  rather  than  reality  pervades  Cuban  society,  as  an 
inheritance,  and  this  leads  to  the  superficial  and  showy  in  edu- 
cation, as  in  other  matters,  a  condition  leading  to  the  demand 
for  private  schools.  Romanists  are  quick  to  take  advantage  of 
this  in  establishing  private  schools  where  their  influence  will  be 


Cuba  127 

paramount.  There  are  a  few  schools  taught  by  rationalistic 
teachers  who  openly  profess  absence  of  religious  faith.  The 
question  is  not  whether  the  Cuban  children  would  be  educated 
without  our  mission  schools,  for  they  would  be,  in  the  majority 
of  cases,  but  how  ? 

For  the  conservation  of  what  has  been  purchased  at  the  cost 
of  seventy  years  of  struggle  on  the  part  of  Cuban  patriots,  and 
by  the  outpouring  of  their  blood  and  ours,  their  treasure  and 
ours,  we  must  continue  and  extend  our  school  work.  Day  by 
day  the  evidence  accumulates  that  our  mission  schools  meet  a 
deeply-felt  want,  and  are  largely  and  increasingly  appreciated 
by  the  Cubans.  While  the  American  Government  gave  to 
Cuba  her  political  freedom,  it  is  reserved  for  the  American 
church  to  make  the  liberty  real  and  effective.  Your  missiona- 
ries and  teachers  are  the  true  emancipators  of  these  Spanish- 
American  countries. 

EVANGELISTIC  WORK 

"  The  bread  of  the  Cubans  has  been  sadness,  suffering,  and 
starvation,  but  flavoured  with  a  yearning  hope  that  some  time 
God  would  turn  towards  them  the  sympathy  and  protection  of 
the  great  republic  at  the  north.  When  at  last  the  north  came 
to  the  rescue,  Cuba  shouted  herself  hoarse  with  joy.  History 
does  not  record  an  act  so  magnanimous  as  that  which  occurred 
May  20,  1902,  when  the  United  States  Government  gave  over 
the  government  of  Cuba  to  the  Cuban  people.  It  seemed  too 
good  to  be  true,  but  it  was  true.  Cuba  was  free.  But  the 
Roman  church  was  responsible  for  the  horrible  condition  in 
which  our  government  found  Cuba.  We  shall  always  be 
blamed  for  long  delay  in  speaking  the  word  that  so  quickly 
brought  about  a  change  ;  on  that  account  the  American  people 
must  not  forget  their  responsibility  in  helping  a  people  which 
suffered  long  because  of  that  delay.  Our  churches  must  recog- 
nize their  obligation  in  helping  the  blind  to  see.  Rome  has 
still  great  power  and  untold  wealth  is  in  its  busy  hand." 

Says  Dr.  C.  L.  Thompson :  "  Cubans  have  lost  faith  in  their 
traditional  religion  but  have  nothing  in  its  place.  Their  relig- 


128    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

ion  was  too  closely  allied  to  their  oppressors  to  survive  after  the 
oppressors'  power  was  gone,  but  most  of  the  people,  especially 
in  smaller  cities  and  country  places,  are  waiting — they  know 
not  for  what.  They  have  spoken  their  farewell  to  a  traditional 
faith,  and  are  silent  in  their  expectation  of  something  else — 
silent  and  hungry." 

It  is  the  general  testimony  that  the  great  lack  is 
not  of  hearers,  but  of  places  in  which  to  hear. 
Two  hundred  have  been  known  to  gather,  and  to 
listen,  at  a  church  service  where  there  were  seats 
for  but  eighty.  "Most  earnestly  do  they  listen, 
with  a  strained,  intent  look  upon  their  faces. 
Their  hearts  are  tender,  especially  among  the 
women.  Their  sufferings  are  not  far  enough 
past  to  be  forgotten.  The  Gospel  message  can 
bring  them  the  comfort  they  so  much  crave." 

The  changes  in  Cuba  resulting  from  evangelistic 
work,  limited  as  it  has  been,  are  marvellous.  The 
record  of  progress  in  one  case  runs  thus: 

"The  audience  the  first  Sabbath  morning  con- 
sisted of  two  coloured  men  and  one  of  them  was 
crazy.  The  other  was  converted  and  became  a 
faithful  member  of  the  church  which,  in  April, 
1904,  reported  a  membership  of  over  sixty  and  an 
active  Sabbath-school  of  more  than  one  hundred 
and  thirty." 

At  another  mission  station  it  seems  as  if  the 
people  were  ready  to  embrace  Protestant  faith 
' '  en  masse. " 

"In  Cuba  the  tide  is  in  our  favour,  while  in 
other  Catholic  countries  it  is  against  us,"  writes 
Rev.  H.  L.  Morehouse.  "I  believe  that  we  have 


Cuba  129 

the  grandest  opportunity  for  mission  work  that 
we  have  had  since  the  marvellous  work  among 
the  Telegus.  To-day  is  the  time.  Six  months 
now  will  be  worth  six  years  in  ten  years  from 
now.  The  door  is  wide  open,  let  us  enter." 

Visiting  is  a  vital  part  of  evangelistic  work,  but 
as  one  says,  when  a  missionary  has  to  "instruct 
all  the  classes,  with  scholars  ranging  from  four  to 
nineteen  years  of  age,  keep  house,  and  study 
Spanish,"  her  days  are  full.  But  she  adds  that 
the  work  is  "very  encouraging,  worth  while, 
and  delightful."  The  cry  is  for  more  who  are 
willing-hearted  and  ready  to  be  neighbour  to 
these  whose  needs  petition  so  earnestly,  and 
whose  longing  hearts  welcome  so  fervently  the 
"beautiful  feet  that  bring  good  tidings." 

The  principal  denominations  have  entered  this 
new  field  and  the  work  is  spreading.  The  blessed 
contagion  of  good  cannot  be  hindered.  "The 
Light  shineth  in  darkness,"  and  the  shadows  flee 
away. 

WORK  OF  WOMAN'S  HOME  MISSIONARY 
SOCIETIES  (See  page  159) 

SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES 

A  native  preacher  in  Havana  who  had  been  praying  earnestly 
for  his  mother,  who  was  greatly  opposed  to  Christianity,  was 
overjoyed  by  the  answer  when  it  came.  He  was  himself  to  re- 
ceive his  mother  into  the  church,  but  so  great  was  his  joy  and 
so  overpowering  his  feeling,  that  he  forgot  the  formula  of  bap- 
tism, and  said  instead,  looking  up  with  a  tenderness  that  touched 
all  beholders,  «  Lord  Jesus,  this  is  my  mother." 


130    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

A  young  man  on  hearing  the  Word  for  the  first  time  hastened 
home  and  said  to  his  mother,  "  I  have  found  what  I  have  been 
longing  for."  He  accepted  Jesus,  joyfully  and  fully,  though  it 
involved  a  business  sacrifice.  He  was  proprietor  of  a  grocery 
store  which  was  kept  open  on  the  Sabbath,  while  liquor  was 
sold,  according  to  general  custom.  But  the  young  man  gave 
up  his  business  for  conscience'  sake  and  engaged  in  bee-culture 
and  honey-selling  to  support  himself  and  mother.  He  now  de- 
votes his  spare  time  to  Christian  service,  longing  to  become  a 
minister,  and,  with  his  mother's  help,  conducts  a  Sabbath-school 
in  a  distant  part  of  the  town. 


President  Palma,  compelled  to  leave  his  island  home  thirty 
years  ago,  because  of  Spain's  oppression,  vowed  that  he  would 
not  return  till  Cuba  was  free.  He  was  called  from  a  teacher's 
position  in  New  York  to  take  the  helm  of  the  new  republic  and 
has  faithfully  fulfilled  the  trust.  "  He  does  not  hesitate  to  ex- 
press his  interest  in  the  religious  development  of  his  people, 
nor  conceal  the  fact  that  he  is  himself  a  deeply  religious  man, 
longing  most  of  all  to  have  his  people  lifted  in  knowledge  and 
virtue  to  the  place  now  for  the  first  time  possible  to  them." 


It  is  good  to  think  of  the  alcalde  (mayor)  of  Baire,  who  rode 
thirty  miles  to  attend  our  services.  It  is  good  to  find  an  open 
door  and  attentive  ears,  and  it  is  good  to  be  a  helper  in  carry- 
ing the  Word  of  Life  to  these  out-of-the-way  people  who  have 
never  before  heard  the  blessed  story.  "  Let  him  that  heareth, 
say,  Come." 


MESSAGE  FROM  THE  WORD 

THE  SPIRIT  OF  SPEED 

Good  speed.  Genesis  24:  12. 

A  decree  executed  with  speed.  Ezra  6:  12,  13. 

Deliver  with  speed.  Psalm  31  :  2. 

Hear  speedily.  Psalm  143  :  7. 


Cuba  131 


Speedily  prevent  Psalm  79 :  8. 

Health  speedily  Isaiah  58 :  6-12. 

Avenge  speedily  Luke  1 8 :  7,  8. 

Go  speedily  —  Zechariah  8:21. 
The  King's  business  requires  haste        i  Samuel  21:8. 

Hasten  to  find  Jesus.  Luke  2 :  16. 

Hasten  to  escape  Psalm  55  :  8. 

Great  work  hastened:  Isaiah  5  :  21,  22 

The  exile  hasteth  Isaiah  51 :  14. 

Hasting  righteousness  Isaiah  16:5. 

The  coming  day.  2  Peter  3:11,  12,  14. 

The  vision  will  not  tarry.  Habakkuk  2  :  3. 

Grant  us  the  spirit  of  speed. 

Thou  knowest,  O  Lord,  the  need. 
In  the  trodden  highways,  along  the  by-ways, 

Where  souls  for  the  Gospel  plead, 
Do  Thou  send  us,  Lord,  with  Thy  Holy  Word, 
For  they  die  so  fast,  who  have  not  yet  heard, 

Oh,  give  us  the  spirit  of  speed. 

HYMN 

(  Tune  :  Azmon.) 
O  still  in  accents  sweet  and  strong, 

Sounds  forth  the  ancient  word, 

"  More  reapers  for  white  harvest  fields, 

More  labourers  for  the  Lord." 

We  hear  the  call ;  in  dreams  no  more 

In  selfish  ease  we  lie, 
But  girded  for  our  Father's  work, 

Go  forth  beneath  His  sky. 

Where  prophets'  word,  and  martyrs'  blood, 
And  prayers  of  saints  were  known, 

We,  to  their  labours  entering  in, 
Would  reap  where  they  have  sown. 

— Samuel  Longfellow. 


132    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

MEMORY  TEST 

1.  Give   brief  account   of  the   discovery  of  Cuba   and  of 
Spanish  rule,  up  to  1895. 

2.  Describe   the    unsanitary  conditions  existing  when  the 
Treaty  of  Paris  was  signed,  the  measures  taken  for  sanitation, 
and  the  results  achieved. 

3.  Give  present  population  of  Cuba,  with  classification  and 
description. 

4.  Describe  the  need  of  medical  work. 

5.  What  has  been  done  for  the  education  of  the  children  of 
Cuba? 

6.  Describe  evangelistic  work  on  the  island — methods  and 
results,  openings  and  needs. 

7.  Describe    the    work   of    Woman's   Home   Missionary 
Societies. 


PORTO  RICO 


HERALDS  OF  THE  KING 
Send  Thou,  O  Lord,  to  every  place, 
Swift  messengers  before  Thy  face, 
The  heralds  of  Thy  wondrous  grace 
Where  Thou,  Thyself,  wilt  come. 

Send  those  whose  eyes  have  seen  the  King, 
Those  in  whose  ears  His  sweet  words  ring, 
Send  such  Thy  lost  ones  home  to  bring; 
Send  them  where  Thou  wilt  come. 

To  bring  good  news  to  souls  in  sin, 
The  bruised  and  broken  hearts  to  win, 
In  every  place  to  bring  them  in, 
Where  Thou,  Thyself,  wilt  come. 

Gird  each  one  with  the  Spirit's  sword, 
The  sword  of  Thine  own  deathless  Word ; 
And  make  them  conquerors,  conquering  Lord, 
Where  Thou,  Thyself,  wilt  come. 

Raise  up,  O  Lord,  the  Holy  Ghost, 
From  this  broad  land,  a  mighty  host, 
Their  war-cry,  "  We  will  seek  the  lost," 
Where  Thou,  O  Christ,  wilt  come. 

— Mrs.  Merrill  E.  Gates. 


•     VI 
PORTO  RICO 

A  THOUSAND  miles  from  Havana,  or 
Florida,  and  fourteen  hundred  from  New 
York,  the  island  of  Porto  Rico  lies  like 
an  emerald  in  the  Caribbean  Sea.  It  is  about 
half  the  size  of  New  Jersey,  being  one  hundred 
miles  long  and  some  forty  in  width.  The  climate 
is  tropical,  but  the  sweeping  trade-winds  make 
it  more  comfortable  than  Bombay,  the  centre  of 
the  desert  of  Sahara,  or  the  City  of  Mexico,  all 
of  which  are  approximately  on  the  same  parallel 
of  latitude.  In  both  climate  and  characteristics, 
it  is  more  nearly  related  to  South  America,  which 
is  but  four  or  five  hundred  miles  distant,  than  it 
is  to  our  northern  shores. 

The  natural  resources  are  principally  agricul- 
tural, and  luxuriant  vegetation  climbs  to  the  tops 
of  the  highest  mountains.  It  is  said  that  when 
Queen  Isabella  asked  Columbus  to  describe  it  to 
her,  he  crumpled  his  handkerchief  and  threw  it 
upon  the  table  saying,  "  It  is  like  that."  Whether 
the  incident  is  true  or  not,  a  crumpled  handker- 
chief is  the  best  illustration  of  the  variegated 
mountain  view  presented  by  this  rectangular 
island.  It  contains  3,600  square  miles  in  its 
rumpled  folds  and  supports  a  population  of 


136    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

nearly  a  million,  or  225  persons  to  the  square 
mile,  making  it  one  of  the  most  densely  settled 
places  upon  earth. 

When  Columbus  discovered  this  island,  in 
1493,  on  his  second  voyage,  he  named  it  San 
Juan,  and  the  harbour  of  the  present  city  of  San 
Juan,  he  called  Puerto  Rico — the  Rich  Harbour. 
Through  some  confusion  in  state  papers,  these 
names  were  exchanged,  and  remained  so,  the 
island  being  called  Puerto  Rico  (or  Porto  Rico,  as 
government  usage  maintains),  and  the  city,  San 
Juan. 

A  statue  of  Columbus  stands,  a  silent  sentinel, 
upon  the  shore  of  the  fine  harbour  of  San  Juan, 
and  the  six-foot  walls  of  El  Morro  guard  the 
channel  over  which  they  have  frowned  since 
1584.  Parts  of  the  castle  were  a  hundred  years 
old,  we  are  told,  when  the  Pilgrims  landed  in 
Massachusetts  Bay. 

In  1508,  Ponce  de  Leon  came  to  Porto  Rico 
as  governor.  He  was  so  fierce,  dissipated,  and 
cruel,  that  we  can  but  rejoice  that  he  failed  to 
find  the  fountain  of  perpetual  youth,  which  he  is 
said  to  have  sought. 

His  bloodhounds,  and  more  brutal  soldiers,  and 
the  deportation  of  natives  to  work  in  the  gold 
fields  of  the  neighbour-island,  Haiti,  almost  de- 
populated Porto  Rico.  When  Spain's  king,  in 
1543,  offered  freedom  to  the  native  inhabitants, 
the  bishop  reported  but  sixty  left  to  receive  the 
royal  favour.  "The  white  races  have  never  felt 
that  any  man  could  read  his  title  clear  to  land,  if 


Porto  Rico  137 

he  were  unable  to  prove  his  claim  by  superior 
physical  force." 

When  Columbus  landed,  the  natives  were 
copper-coloured  Indians  similar  to  those  of  North 
America.  Negro  slaves  being  imported  to  fill  the 
places  of  slaughtered  natives,  as  in  Cuba,  the 
present  population  of  Porto  Rico  is  descended 
from  mingled  Indian,  negro,  and  Spanish  blood. 
The  immense  coffee  plantations  give  employment 
to  thousands,  and  banana  farming  is  exceedingly 
profitable,  200,000,000  bananas  being  shipped 
annually. 

Porto  Rico  was  long  used  as  a  place  of  exile 
by  Spain,  but  in  1823  a  wise  governor's  liberal 
policy  invited  colonists.  In  1873,  slavery  was 
abolished,  and  the  interests  of  the  island  moved 
upward,  though  with  tropical  deliberation. 

Spanish  control  and  misrule  lasted  for  four 
hundred  years  in  Porto  Rico.  American  troops, 
engaged  in  the  war  with  Spain,  landed  at 
Guanica,  July  21,  1898,  and  six  days  later  oc- 
cupied Ponce,  welcomed  by  the  people.  Spanish 
evacuation  occurred  October  17,  1898. 

Porto  Rico  was  ceded  to  our  government  by  the 
terms  of  the  Peace  of  Paris,  signed  December  10, 
1898. 

The  island  has  a  governor  appointed  by  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  also  an  Executive 
Council  consisting  of  six  heads  of  departments, 
who  are  American  officers,  and  five  Porto  Ricans. 
The  people  elect  the  Legislative  Assembly,  com- 
posed of  five  members  from  each  of  the  seven 


138    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

districts.  No  measure  can  become  a  law  with- 
out the  concurrence  of  the  Executive  Council  and 
Legislative  Assembly,  together  with  the  gover- 
nor's signature. 

Every  town  has  its  mayor  or  alcalde,  and  its 
common  council  or  ayuntamiento,  elected  by  pop- 
ular vote,  qualification  for  the  ballot  consisting 
in  ability  to  read  and  write,  or  the  payment  of 
tax. 

When  the  Americans  took  possession,  eighty 
per  cent,  of  the  population  of  Porto  Rico  could 
neither  read  nor  write,  and  but  25,000  of  the 
350,000  children  of  school  age,  were  in  school. 
After  six  years  of  American  possession  the  public 
schools  alone  show  an  attendance  of  70,000 — 
while  the  enrollment  of  private  and  parochial 
schools  may  bring  up  the  number  to  100,000 
scholars.  "  This  is  a  record  to  cause  some  satis- 
faction, but  not  an  achievement  to  be  considered 
final." 

Under  Spanish  rule,  the  Roman  Catholic  relig- 
ion was  supported  by  the  government,  priests 
holding  offices  and  receiving  state  pay.  This 
union  of  church  and  state  was  immediately 
severed  according  to  the  Constitution,  when  the 
United  States  took  possession,  and  many  of  the 
priests  left  the  country  in  consequence.  The  entire 
population  is  nominally  Catholic,  but,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  large  numbers  have  no  religion  whatever. 
Romanism  holds  some  of  the  more  intelligent  to  a 
degree  of  allegiance,  but  meets  elsewhere  with 
bitter  antagonism  or  indifference,  and  the  opposi- 


Porto  Rico  139 

tion  of  agnosticism.    Says  Bishop  James  H.  Van 
Buren, 

The  majority  of  the  lower  and  poorer  classes  are  living  in 
practical  heathenism.  They  celebrate  Easter  and  Christmas 
with  outlandish  noises,  and  the  carnival  flourishes  as  a  time  of 
frolic  and  frivolity.  Superstitious  customs  prevail  and  proces- 
sions with  wax  images  of  the  Saviour  and  His  mother  are  com- 
mon occurrences.  The  poorer  people  hear  the  Gospel  gladly, 
and  come  in  great  numbers  to  listen  to  any  one  who  can  speak 
to  them  in  their  own  language.  They  are  eager  to  have  their 
children  attend  the  mission  schools.  Never  was  there  an 
opportunity  more  rich  in  its  invitation  and  its  possibilities,  than 
Porto  Rico  presents  to-day. 

DISTINCTIVE  NEEDS 

Aside  from  the  ever-present  need  of  loving 
sympathy  and  the  human  touch,  the  Porto  Ricans 
need  especially  to  be  reached  by  missionaries  in 
their  own  tongue. 

General  Guy  V.  Henry,  military  governor  of 
the  island  in  1898,  reported  :  "The  native  Porto 
Ricans  are  not  disloyal,  lazy,  nor  viciously  igno- 
rant. Taking  into  consideration  the  facts  that  they 
have  lived  for  centuries  under  the  yoke  of  for- 
eign oppressors,  and  have  been  subjected  to  a 
rule  iniquitous  in  the  extreme,  they  are  wonder- 
fully moral  and  intelligent."  He  adds  that  the 
better  element  is  as  refined  and  cultured  as  the 
corresponding  class  in  our  own  country,  and 
upon  this  element  the  political  and  commercial 
redemption  of  the  island  must  depend. 

Because  the  Porto  Ricans  are  thus  susceptible, 
and  the  new  condition  somewhat  chaotic,  and 


140    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

formative,  there  is  more  urgent  need  for  decided 
and  positive  Christian  influence  to  be  exercised  at 
once,  both  by  precept  and  example. 

Another  distinctive  need  is  that  of  suitable 
church  and  school  buildings.  These  people  are 
under  the  life-long  impression  that  outward  form 
should  correspond  with  inward  principle.  They 
are  affected  by  the  pomp  and  circumstance  of 
Romish  worship  within  stately  walls,  and  amid 
beautiful  surroundings. 

*'In  the  land  where  the  Roman  church  has  erected  her 
splendid  temples,  it  will  never  impress  the  people  with  the  fact 
that  we  have  a  better  and  purer  conception  of  the  church,  if  \ve 
build  poor  little  temporary  structures.  Many  denominations 
are  convinced  of  this  and  are  building  worthy  edifices.  The 
wisdom  of  a  generous  policy  in  the  mission  field  is  nowhere 
more  apparent  than  in  these  new  possessions  where  it  might  be 
said,  if  we  missionaries  were  not  there  to  make  this  impossible, 
that,  in  exchanging  Spain  for  the  United  States,  a  religious 
master,  though  a  tyrant,  had  been  exchanged  for  a  government 
that  had  no  religion." 

In  the  government  report  upon  sanitation,  oc- 
curs the  statement,  "Public  sanitation  is  proba- 
bly the  most  pressing  problem  confronting  the 
local  authorities,  and  upon  its  solution  depends, 
to  a  considerable  degree,  the  physical  regenera- 
tion of  the  people  of  Porto  Rico." 

But  moral  sanitation  for  moral  redemption  is 
surely  not  less  a  pressing  need  and  an  insistent 
problem.  A  new  standard  must  be  lifted  for 
these  people,  and  wholesome  lives  that  maintain 


Porto  Rico  141 

it  must  help  to  lift  them  towards  the  exalted 
standard. 

In  an  "Act  to  provide  a  government  for  the 
territory  of  Porto  Rico,"  it  is  announced,  "That 
all  native  inhabitants  of  Porto  Rico  continuing  to 
reside  therein  who  were  Spanish  subjects  on  the 
nth  of  April,  1899,  and  then  resided  in  Porto 
Rico,  and  their  children  born  subsequent  thereto, 
shall  be  citizens  of  the  United  States  and  of  Porto 
Rico,  except  such  as  shall  have  elected  to  pre- 
serve their  allegiance  to  the  crown  of  Spain,  on 
or  before  April  n,  1899."  The  Porto  Ricans 
now  are  "  citizens  of  no  mean  country."  They 
are  our  neighbours,  indeed,  and,  in  a  sense,  we 
owe  them  a  peculiar  debt.  It  is  not  ours  to  aid 
Hindus  and  Patagonians  to  become  loyal  and  true 
citizens  of  the  United  States.  We  are  under  the 
supreme  obligation  to  give  to  them  as  fully  and 
freely,  the  news  01  Jesus'  regenerating  love  and 
pardoning  power,  to  fit  them  for  citizenship 
above,  but,  in  addition  to  this  responsibility  for 
the  Porto  Ricans,  we,  and  we  above  all  others, 
must  help  to  prepare  them  for  the  place  they  now 
hold. 

Alas,  the  need  is  great  and  pressing,  and  delay 
is  dangerous,  indeed,  even  more  than  deferred 
orders  and  efforts  to  secure  public  sanitation  in 
the  island. 

In  dealing  with  the  problem  of  the  administra- 
tion of  justice,  our  government  found  that  all 
manner  of  abuses  owing  to  the  fact  that  fees  in- 
stead of  salaries  prevailed,  must  be  rectified  at 


142    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

once  by  fixing  official  salaries.  In  this  way, 
bribes  and  extortion  might  be  abolished  and  con- 
fidence, sadly  broken,  duly  restored. 

The  condition  in  the  religious  world  was 
analogous  to  this.  The  solemn  ordinances  of 
baptism,  marriage  and  burial  being  subject  to  ex- 
tortionate charges  by  way  of  fees,  the  morals  of 
the  poorer  classes  fell  into  a  low  state  in  con- 
sequence of  their  inability  to  meet  the  enormous 
demands.  They  not  only  cast  off  or  omitted  the 
outward  observances,  but  lost  confidence  in 
those  who  should  have  been  their  guides.  It  is 
ours  now  to  restore  confidence  and  lift  up  the 
moral  standard  by  making  proper  forms  and  serv- 
ice independent  of  priestly  administration  and 
love  of  gain. 

The  need  of  industrial  education  is  very  great, 
and  not  the  less  because  the  Porto  Ricans  do  not 
realize  it.  A  recent  writer  reminds  us  that  "  these 
people  are  the  product  of  a  tropical  island,  and 
while  a  tropical  sun  is  constantly  sapping  their 
vitality,  a  bountiful  nature  is  at  the  same  time  at- 
tending to  their  few  needs.  With  no  winter  in 
prospect  there  is  no  incentive  to  frugality  and 
nothing  to  stimulate  effort  or  energy.  For  four 
hundred  years  they  have  been  drifting  and  they 
like  to  drift." 

Another  says:  "In  the  country  districts  all 
that  a  young  couple  needs  to  set  up  housekeep- 
ing is  a  palm-tree.  With  this  and  a  tin  coffee-pot 
a  young  man  may  consider  himself  in  a  position 
to  get  married.  Poles  covered  with  the  sheath 


Porto  Rico  143 

of  the  royal  palm  serve  for  framework  of  a  house, 
and  palm  leaves  thatch  it.  There  is  no  floor  to 
the  house  and  no  furniture  save  a  hammock  or 
two,  woven  from  palm  leaves.  The  shell  of  the 
cocoanut  palm  is  used  for  holding  water  and  for 
other  household  purposes." 

We  are  warned  by  the  thoughtful  that  "it  is 
going  to  be  difficult  to  Americanize  this  people 
by  the  injection  of  American  blood,  life,  and 
energy  because  the  system  of  laws  under  which 
they  have  been  born  and  bred  is  hostile  to  the 
American  code  and  because  the  people  find  it 
very  hard  to  understand  American  ways,  manners 
and  customs." 

After  all,  the  supreme  need  of  Porto  Rico  is  the 
one  that  is  not  distinctive  but  common,  even  the 
need  of  the  transforming  power  of  the  Gospel  of 
our  Lord,  and  of  the  Christlike  patience,  skill,  and 
persistent  love  of  the  messengers  who  bring  the 
Word  and  live  it  among  these  neighbours  now 
near  of  kin,  under  the  folds  of  our  glorious  flag. 

EFFORTS 

By  mutual  agreement,  different  parts  of  the  is- 
land of  Porto  Rico,  as  of  Cuba,  have  been  as- 
signed to  different  denominations.  The  general 
division  gives  the  eastern  end  to  the  Congrega- 
tionalists,  the  western  to  the  Presbyterians,  the 
centre  to  the  Methodists  and  Baptists,  the  two 
largest  cities,  San  Juan  and  Ponce,  being  open  to 
all  denominations.  The  Episcopalians  have  es- 
tablished missions  in  the  capital  and  in  many 


144    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

other  places,  and  other  denominations  have  en- 
tered the  field  to  a  less  extent. 

The  spirit  of  harmony  and  helpfulness  char- 
acterizing the  united  efforts  of  the  heralds  of  the 
cross  who  march  under  different  regimental 
colours,  but  are  all  loyal  to  Him  whose  banner 
over  all  is  love,  shows  that  everything  controver- 
sial is  lost  in  service.  The  Bishop  of  Porto  Rico 
certainly  voices  the  hearty  feeling  of  all  colabour- 
ers  when  he  says  to  his  own  adherents, 

It  is  my  desire  that  our  Church  in  Porto  Rico  should  avoid 
antagonizing  Christian  people  of  other  names.  I  covet  the  love 
and  co-operation  of  all  Christians,  and  the  benedictions  of  the 
poor.  We  are  in  Porto  Rico,  not  to  criticise  other  people  for 
past  neglect  or  present  methods  of  presenting  the  Saviour  and 
His  truth,  but  to  do  what  we  can  with  our  advantages,  to  bind 
up  the  broken-hearted,  to  open  the  prison  of  ignorance  to  them 
that  are  bound,  to  comfort  the  mourners  and  minister  of  the 
ability  God  gives  us,  for  the  uplifting  of  the  people. 

The  same  writer  lamenting  the  barrier  of  lan- 
guage, speaks  of  the  finding  of  the  key  to  the 
problem,  as  other  missionaries,  he  says,  have 
found  it,  in  the  desire  of  the  children,  and  of  the 
grown-ups,  too,  to  learn  English.  They  come  to 
the  services  at  which  hymns,  the  commandments, 
the  Lord's  Prayer  and  the  Beatitudes  are  taught  in 
English.  In  getting  the  English  lessons  they 
covet,  the  workers  "take  care  that  they  get  the 
Gospel  too." 

The  efforts  of  the  deaconesses  in  Porto  Rico 
correspond  with  those  put  forth  everywhere, 


Porto  Rico  145 

jnder  varying  conditions.  Visiting  from  house 
to  house  is  one  of  the  chief  means  employed  to 
gain  acquaintance  with  the  people,  grow  familiar 
with  their  homes,  and  come  close  to  their  hearts. 
Along  the  neglected  streets  and  in  the  market- 
places go  the  wearers  of  the  white  ties.  The 
children  run  to  meet  the  visitor,  an  American  lady 
in  such  quarters  being  a  novelty,  and  inside  the 
wretched  rooms  the  mothers  put  down  their 
irons  or  leave  their  tubs  to  entertain  the  welcome 
messenger,  while  an  eager  crowd  of  unkempt 
children  gathers  at  the  door. 

Away  from  the  market  and  the  principal 
streets,  into  windowless  rooms  where  women 
are  ironing  by  candle-light,  though  the  sun  out- 
side is  bright,  through  hall  and  patio — or  court — 
the  willing  feet  bear  the  message.  The  women 
eagerly  take  the  Spanish  tracts,  though  few  of 
them  can  read.  Sitting  upon  a  box  or  broken 
chair  the  deaconess  reads  to  the  interested  groups 
that  gather  about,  and  they  tell  her  of  their  bare 
and  bitter  lives.  Looking  into  their  faces  she 
thinks  of  the  poverty  and  oppression  and  the 
superstition  under  which  they  have  long  been 
bound,  and  these  words  of  the  Saviour  burn  in 
her  mind,  "  Unto  whomsoever  much  is  given,  of 
him  shall  much  be  required."  Are  those  who 
have  bread  and  to  spare,  doing  all  that  is  possible 
for  their  hungry  neighbours  ? 

Earnest  and  efficient  work  is  being  done  in  this 
field  of  our  new  possession,  but  still  the  cry  is 
for  re-enforcements,  for  "The  work  is  great  and 


146    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

large,  and  we  are  separated  upon  the  wall,  one 
far  from  another."  Surely  these  noble  ranks 
should  be  recruited,  and  that  speedily. 

RESULTS 

Not  only  the  prospects  but  the  results  of  the 
Porto  Rican  work  are  "bright  as  the  promises  of 
God."  Those  who  have  entered  the  open  doors 
have  found  others  ajar,  and  now  there  is  no  con- 
siderable town  upon  the  island  altogether  un- 
reached.  "  1  believe  much  in  God,  and  I  like  this 
religion  "  is  a  testimony  which  is,  in  effect,  re- 
peated by  many  lips. 

The  confidence  with  which  people  come  in 
their  trouble,  to  the  Protestants,  marks  the  esti- 
mate in  which  they  are  held,  compared  with  the 
Romish  priests.  A  stranger  at  a  mission  one 
day  made  a  piteous  appeal  for  help,  lest  she  and 
her  four  children  be  turned  into  the  street.  She 
had  never  attended  services  there  and  on  being 
asked  why  she  did  not  apply  to  the  priest, 
replied,  "  Oh,  the  priests  do  not  give  to  anybody; 
they  expect  to  be  given  to." 

Christian  patriotism,  cultivated  by  the  mission- 
aries, is  growing  to  a  gratifying  extent.  Here  and 
there  the  effective  working  of  Gospel  leaven  is 
witnessed  by  such  instances  as  that  reported  from 
a  small  town,  where  a  young  man  was  found  who 
reads  and  explains  the  Scriptures  to  his  fellow- 
workmen  upon  each  opportunity. 

A  church  in  Aguadilla  has  secured  over  three 
hundred  members  in  three  years,  all,  save  two,  re- 


Porto  Rico  147 

ceived  upon  profession  of  their  faith;  and  out  of 
their  poverty  they  have  contributed  about  four 
hundred  dollars  in  a  single  year. 

The  opposition  of  the  priesthood  shows  that 
Protestant  work  in  Porto  Rico  amounts  to  some- 
thing, and  the  stirring  of  public  opinion  which 
directs  attention  to  missionary  efforts,  is  a  benefi- 
cent result. 

Dr.  H.  L.  Morehouse  writes  concerning  the 
dedication  of  a  new  chapel  in  Corral  Viejo  in 
this  significant  fashion: 

How  much  the  erection  of  this  house  means  to  the  com- 
munity may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  until  we  began  to 
hold  services  no  priest  had  been  here  for  eight  years,  unless  on 
some  special  occasion.  Suddenly  they  became  concerned  and 
tried  to  turn  the  current  running  in  our  favour.  The  very 
afternoon  of  our  dedication,  according  to  previous  announce- 
ment, two  priests  came  to  hold  service  in  the  house  of  a  leading 
family  of  the  place,  hoping  thereby  to  draw  away  the  people 
from  us.  They  had  a  small  congregation  compared  with  ours, 
and  had  scant  comfort  as,  on  their  return,  they  rode  by  our 
thronged  chapel. 

Counselling  patience  with  small  results,  and 
hopefulness  for  the  future,  Bishop  Van  Buren 
writes : 

We  are  laying  foundations.  That  is  one  reason  why  our 
work  does  not  make  a  larger  showing  on  the  surface.  It  is  im- 
portant to  make  no  mistakes  in  beginnings,  leaving  behind  us 
work  begun  and  abandoned  because  we  did  not  sit  down  and 
count  the  cost.  I  am  anxious  not  to  waste  missionary  money 
upon  unconsidered  schemes.  To  this  end  I  counsel  patience 
with  small  results.  It  is  better  to  begin  small  and  end  large 


148    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

than  to  reverse  the  process.  I  have  never  been  more  enthusi- 
astic for  Porto  Rico  nor  more  hopeful  for  the  work  than  to-day. 
I  believe  it  will  prove  a  blessing  to  our  country  that  we  have 
acquired  that  beautiful  island,  the  "  Queen  of  the  West  Indies  " — 
the  «  Daughter  of  the  sun  and  sea."  I  am  sure  that  it  will  prove 
a  blessing  to  Porto  Rico  that  our  flag  has  come  to  stay,  and 
surely  not  the  least  of  the  blessings  to  the  people  there  and  at 
home,  will  be  the  fact  that  the  stars  and  stripes  have  been  fol- 
lowed so  quickly  by  the  church. 

Other  missionaries  write: 

The  neglected  country  districts,  densely  populated,  are  be- 
coming very  hopeful  fields  for  our  work.  Our  little  rooms  in 
the  country  near  Mayaguez  are  filled  with  eager  listeners,  and 
there  is  a  constant  call  for  more  backless  benches,  more  lamps, 
and  larger  rooms,  so  that  the  people  may  hear  the  Word  of  Life. 
What  can  we  say  to  them?  We  dare  not  refuse  them  the 
Gospel.  They  appreciate  what  is  done  for  them.  .  .  .  Cabo 
Rojo,  near  San  German,  is  a  centre  of  religious  enthusiasm. 
From  the  initial  service  the  hall  has  been  crowded.  It  is  insuf- 
ficient to  hold  the  people,  though  it  is  the  largest  in  town. 
Half  the  audience  is  in  the  street  looking  in  at  the  open  doors 
and  windows.  The  missionary  there  has  eleven  regular  preach- 
ing stations  and  is  carrying  on  the  varied  work  with  only  the 
help  of  his  own  church  members.  He  writes  that  many  other 
fields  are  calling  for  workers  and  begs  that  help  may  be  sent  in 
the  person  of  missionaries  and  Bible  readers. 

This  is  a  wonderful  field  just  now,  with  opportunities 
rich  and  multiplying.  The  moment  is  critical  and  auspicious. 
Never,  probably,  in  any  Catholic  country,  have  people  been  so 
receptive  to  the  Gospel. 

I  have  never  seen  in  any  country,  such  an  eager  desire  to 
pass  on  the  good  news,  as  is  shown  by  our  native  members. 

Could  God's  people  at  home  know  the  blessings  they  have 
sent  to  Porto  Rico  through  the  Gospel,  they  would  surely  hasten 


Porto  Rico  149 

to  double  and  treble  their  beneficent  efforts  for  a  people  so 
needy,  so  receptive  and  so  grateful.  Surely  we  shall  not  say  in 
the  sordid  spirit  of  Spain,  "What  are  they  worth  to  us?"  but 
rather,  "  What  may  we,  with  the  blessings  of  the  Gospel,  be  to 
them  ?  "  Imperative  is  our  duty,  high  is  our  privilege  to  effect 
the  redemption  of  Porto  Rico. 

After  extensive  travel  in  the  wide  home  mis- 
sion field,  John  Willis  Baer  writes  concerning 
this  island  possession: 

It  is  my  opinion  that  what  the  religion  of  Jesus  has  done 
for  the  spiritual  life  of  this  island,  our  government  is  doing  for 
its  political  and  commercial  life,  and  the  Porto  Rican,  in  the 
rapidly  developing  latent  power  of  his  home,  is  gaining  a 
lively  appreciation  of  the  possibilities  of  the  future.  I  have  no 
hesitation  in  saying  that  there  has  not  come  to  my  personal 
knowledge  a  field  where  God  has  so  used  men  and  women  to 
His  own  glory,  showing  definite  results,  more  certainly,  than  in 
the  beautiful  island  of  Porto  Rico.  From  the  day  the  Spanish 
flag  fell  from  the  masthead  and  Old  Glory  took  its  place,  there 
has  been  but  little  opposition  to  the  American  idea,  and  to  the 
Gospel  of  Christ.  Both  have  been  welcomed,  adopted  and 
adapted. 

THE  LAND  TO  BE  POSSESSED 

"There  remaineth  very  much  land  to  be  pos- 
sessed." Since  Porto  Rico  became  a  part  of  the 
United  States,  the  island  has  made  unprecedented 
progress  in  all  directions.  On  the  Sabbath  more 
people  now  gather  in  the  Protestant  churches 
than  in  the  Catholic,  but  this  does  not  mean  that 
the  majority  of  the  million  inhabitants  have  re- 
nounced Romanism.  It  does  mean  that  of  those 
in  the  island  who  are  loyal  to  their  church,  the 
larger  proportion  are  Protestant.  The  miserable 


150    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

life  which  has  pressed  down  the  Porto  Rican  is 
to  be  laid  largely  at  the  door  of  the  old  regime  of 
the  Spanish  priest,  and  the  natives  are  turning 
away  from  it.  A  reactionary  and  revolutionary 
change  has  set  in. 

But  this  is  a  critical  time.  It  is  prophesied  that 
the  progress  of  the  past  five  years,  wonderful  as 
it  is,  will  be  far  eclipsed  by  the  advance  of  the 
next  ten.  This  means  that  the  opportunity  is 
golden  and  the  need  most  urgent. 

The  cry  for  help  in  this  white  field  is  so  ap- 
pealing as  to  be  even  appalling,  because  it  repre- 
sents the  necessity  of  effort  and  of  ampler  aid. 

The  poor  in  this  island  are  not  "good  Catho- 
lics" because,  as  they  admit,  they  "cannot  afford 
it."  "Dollars  are  scarce"  is  the  reply  to  the 
question,  "Why  is  not  your  child  baptized?" 
"I  have  no  fine  clothes,"  is  the  excuse  for  not 
attending  church  on  feast  days.  "Why  do  you 
bury  your  wife  like  a  dog,  without  having  mass 
said  for  her?"  is  another  question  asked,  which 
has  brought  the  piteous  answer,  "Because  I  have 
living  mouths  to  feed  and  the  dead  do  not  hun- 
ger." In  the  increasing  light  of  the  truth  now 
spreading,  superstition  may  be  cast  off,  but  unless 
something  better  is  substituted,  and  the  revolt 
against  previous  oppression  followed  by  the  per- 
sistent offer  of  life  and  love,  what  will  be  the 
gain  ? 

The  land  to  be  possessed  is  now  in  the  transi- 
tion state  which  makes  redoubled  effort  and  the 
devising  of  liberal  things  as  imperative  as  hope- 


Porto  Rico  151 

ful.  The  women  of  Porto  Rico  among  the  upper 
classes  are  more  faithful  in  the  observance  of 
Romish  forms,  and  more  devoted  to  the  worship 
of  the  Virgin,  than  the  men,  many  of  whom  are 
emancipated  to  a  degree.  "  We  are  not  to  im- 
agine," warns  a  missionary,  "that  conscience- 
deadening  belief,  hurtful  and  age-long,  is  going 
to  melt  away  before  a  few  years  of  even  pros- 
perous mission  effort.  Neither  are  we  to  be 
discouraged  at  the  odds  of  superstition  and  indif- 
ference against  us." 

The  religion  so  long  dominant,  is  now  bracing 
itself  against  the  power  of  Protestantism,  and 
making  its  festivals  more  alluring.  The  newness 
of  the  appearance  of  American  missionaries,  is 
wearing  off,  and  those  attracted  by  hope  of 
"loaves  and  fishes"  must  needs  drop  away. 
The  encouraging  fact  is  that  their  places  are 
always  filled.  Now,  as  of  old,  the  common 
people  hear  gladly.  The  point  to  be  impressed 
is  that  the  land  is  not  yet  won,  and  the  work  is 
but  begun.  "  There  is  no  discharge  in  this  war." 
But  the  victory  is  assured  through  our  All-con- 
quering Commander  and  this  fair  and  fertile 
island  shall  yet  become  Immanuel's  Land. 

WORK  OF  WOMAN'S  HOME  MISSIONARY 
SOCIETIES  (See  page  159) 

GLIMPSES 

"  The  government  is  doing  all  it  can  to  give  schools  to  Porto 
Rico,  but,  so  far,  the  funds  in  hand  suffice  for  but  one  sixth  of 
the  children  of  school  age.  The  rest  of  the  children  must  go 


152    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

untaught,  unless  Christian  people  come  to  their  aid."    The 
mission  schools  are  full  to  overflowing. 


"  Our  reason  for  doing  missionary  work  in  this  island  is  not 
because  it  is  uncivilized,  for  it  has  a  civilization  older  than  our 
own,  but  it  is  because  the  form  of  religion  which  it  possesses 
has  lost  its  vitality  and  seems  unable  to  lift  the  people  from 
degradation  and  ignorance." 


"  The  national  sports  of  Porto  Rico  are  gambling  and  cock 
fighting.  These  demoralizing  practices  abound  in  every  towi 
and  village.  Even  little  children  are  trained  in  them." 


"  Woman's  work  is  clearly  denned  in  this  island.  It  i* 
needlework,  and  the  beautiful  embroideries  and  fine  drawn- 
work  that  are  shown  to  the  admiring  guest,  speak  of  many 
hours  passed  with  the  needle  and  scissors." 


In  the  side  yard  of  the  first  Protestant  church  built  in  Porto 
Rico  after  the  American  occupation,  the  visitor  in  San  Juan 
may  see  a  water  faucet  at  which  for  one  morning  hour  stands 
the  sexton  of  the  church,  dealing  out  water  to  all  comers. 
Women  and  children  with  empty  five-gallon  kerosene  cans  on 
their  heads,  have  them  filled,  replace  them  on  their  heads  and 
trudge  off  through  the  deep  sand  to  their  washtubs,  "  happy 
enough  to  know  that  each  morning,  for  one  hour,  there  is  water 
for  them  which  does  not  need  to  be  hunted,  begged,  or  bought, 
thankful  that  the  church  brings  that  help  to  the  daily  burdens." 

Is  not  this  a  beautiful  charity  ?  Surely  it  is  befitting  that 
such  needs  should  be  supplied  by  those  who  have  come  to  the 
island  to  tell  of  the  water  that  springs  up  to  life  everlasting, 
which  "  if  a  man  drink  thereof,  he  shall  never  thirst." 


"  Among  the  missionary  teachers  in  our  new  possession,  was 
one  fair-haired,  sweet-faced  woman,  so  very  fair  and  sweet  that 


Porto  Rico  153 

some  of  her  friends  call  her  '  The  Lily  of  Porto  Rico.'  She 
noticed  one  day  that  a  little  black  girl  kept  very  close  to  her 
and  finally  asked  the  child  why  she  clung  to  her  so.  « You  are 
so  white,  senorita,'  she  answered,  <  I  thought  that  perhaps  if  I 
kept  real  close,  some  of  the  white  would  rub  off  on  me.' " 

The  child  was  lovingly  told  how  her  heart  could  be  white  as 
snow  though  her  skin  must  be  always  black.  But  is  it  not  true 
in  a  sense  most  deep  and  sweet  that  "  the  white  "  of  these  lovely 
missionary  characters  will  "rub  off"  in  the  contact  with  the 
souls  they  serve  ? 

MEMORY  TEST 

1.  Give    some    account   of   Porto    Rico's   Yesterday  and 
To-day. 

2.  What  are   some   of  the  distinctive  needs  of  this  field, 
physical,  moral  and  religious  ? 

3.  Mention  the  appliances  in  use  in  the  cultivation  of  this 
mission  ground. 

4.  What  efforts  are  being  made  by  the  American  church  for 
the  evangelization  of  Porto  Rico  ? 

5.  Recapitulate  the  results  of  this  mission  work. 

6.  Is  there  yet  land  to  be  possessed  ?     Mention  reasons  and 
encouragements  for  continuing  Christian  work.     What  are  the 
women's  societies  doing  HERE  ? 


POSSESS  THE   LAND 
O  let  us  hear  the  inspiring  word 
Which  they  of  old  at  Horeb  heard ; 
Breathe  to  our  hearts  the  high  command, 
"  Go  forward  and  possess  the  land." 

Thou  who  art  Light,  shine  on  each  soul, 
Thou  who  art  Truth,  each  mind  control, 
Open  our  eyes  and  let  us  see 
The  path  that  leads  to  heaven  and  Thee. 

— John  Hay. 


154    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

MESSAGE  FROM  THE  WORD 
THE  RIVER  OF  GOD 

The  river  full  of  water.  Psalm  65  :  5. 

River  of  pleasures.  Psalm  36  :  8. 

To  make  glad  the  city  of  God.  Psalm  46  :  4. 

Peace  like  a  river.  Isaiah  66  :  12. 

Healing  and  life.  Ezekiel  47  :  8,  9  (as  far  as 

«  shall  live  "  ). 

The  trustful  soul  beside  the  river.  Jeremiah  17  :  7,  8. 

Broad  rivers.  Isaiah  33  :  21. 

In  strange  places.  Isaiah  43  :  19. 

Deep  and  wide.  Ezekiel  47  :  5. 

Water  of  Life  for  alL  Revelation  22  :  I,  2, 


QUESTION  AND  ANSWER 
WHAT  SHALL  WE  Do 

Ah,  sisters,  'tis  for  us  to  tell  the  story, 
For  us  to  bid  Salvation's  waters  roll. 

To  us  the  alien  races  look,  expectant, 
And  dumbly  lift  to  us  the  shackled  soul. 

Their  ignorance  has  claims  upon  our  knowledge, 
And  shall  they  cry — and  we  refuse  to  give  ? 

Our  very  privileges  make  us  debtors ; 
To  let  them  die  forbids  our  right  to  live. 

— Mrs.  S.  C.  Clarke. 


How  SHALL  WE  GIVE 

Pour  out  thy  love  like  the  rush  of  a  river 

Wasting  its  waters  forever  and  ever, 

Through  the  burnt  sands  that  reward  not  the  giver. 
Silent,  or  songful,  thou  nearest  the  sea. 
Look  to  the  Life  that  was  lavished  for  thee. 

— Rose  Terry  Cooke. 


Porto  Rico  155 

WHAT  Is  OUR  PRIVILEGE  AND  PRAYER 

What  are  our  fathers'  deeds  of  praise  ? 

And  what,  our  fathers'  God,  are  we, 
That  we,  amid  these  latter  days, 

Are  spared  Thy  triumphs  thus  to  see  ? 
Let  Thy  full  river,  O  our  God, 
Enrich  the  land  our  fathers  trod. 

— E.  A.  B.  B. 


WORK  OF  WOMAN'S  HOME  MIS- 
SIONARY  SOCIETIES 


The  Lord  gtveth  the  word ; 

The  women  that  publish  the  tidings  are  a  great  host 

— Psalms  68  :  it. 


VII 

WORK  OF  WOMAN'S  HOME  MISSIONARY 
SOCIETIES 

As  already  stated,  it  is  the  aim  of  this  book,  as  of  the  rest  of 
the  series,  to  present  home  mission  work  as  such,  rather  than 
the  work  of  distinctive  denominations.  But  the  story  would  be 
incomplete  without  a  resume  of  the  fields  occupied  by  the 
organized  bodies  of  Home  Missionary  women.  The  following 
statements,  approved  by  the  secretaries  of  the  various  societies, 
can  but  awaken  in  the  hearts  of  Christian  women  fresh  grati- 
tude for  the  privilege  of  service,  as  they  say  with  reverence, 
"  What  hath  God  wrought  ?  " — Editorial  Committee. 

BAPTIST 

Woman's  American  Baptist  Home  Missionary  Society. 
Secretary,  Mrs.  M.  C.  Reynolds,  jio  Tremont  Temple, 
Boston,  Mass. 

INDIAN  WORK 

THE  work  of  the  two  societies  of  Baptist 
Home  Missionary   women   among    the 
Indians  and  Spanish-speaking  people,  is 
somewhat  interlinked,  each  society  helping  to 
support,  for  instance,  the   Indian  University  at 
Bacone,    Indian   Territory.     Some    idea    of    the 
dialects  spoken  in  the  various  tribes  represented 
here  may  be  gathered  from  the  following: 

One  of  the  literary  societies  gave  a  program,  a  feature  of 
which  was  "  Mary's  Little  Lamb  "  recited  in  twelve  different 
languages.  Of  these  there  were  English,  German,  Greek, 

159 


160    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

Latin,  and  the  other  eight  in  the  different  Indian  languages. 
First  the  verse  was  recited  in  each  language  separately,  and 
then  in  unison.  You  can  readily  imagine  the  effect 


In  Atoka,  Indian  Territory,  special  stress  is  laid 
on  agriculture,  as  farming,  when  properly  taught, 
furnishes  an  admirable  outlet  for  the  restless 
Indian  nature.  The  home  here  is  for  "the 
neglected  young  and  the  neglected  old,  as  well," 
and  is  blessed  by  the  gift,  from  the  Indians  them- 
selves, of  one  thousand  seven  hundred  acres  of 
land. 

In  work  among  the  Navajoes,  the  missionaries 
of  this  society  find,  as  do  others,  that  there  must 
be  constant  struggle  against  the  prevailing  sins 
of  gambling,  stealing,  lying,  wife-whipping,  and 
polygamy.  But  already  there  has  been  time 
enough  for  the  parents  to  see  the  gain  in  their 
children  who  have  attended  school,  and  learned 
there  to  walk  the  "Jesus  road."  One  missionary 
writes,  "Deacon  Lone  Wolf's  daughter  says, 
1  When  we  get  grass  money  we  are  going  to  fix 
up  our  house  and  paint  it,  then  we  will  make 
two  carpets  and  I  will  keep  house.'  I  said,  'I 
thought  you  were  keeping  house.'  She  replied, 
1  Well,  I  am  going  to  wash  windows  and  scrub, 
and  keep  things  in  place  all  the  time.'"  This, 
in  contrast  with  the  squaw  of  the  blanket  Indian, 
is  a  marked  indication  of  progress. 

From  schools  in  Oklahoma  and  Montana  come 
similar  reports.  "  The  mescal  feast  (heathen 
worship)  is  doomed.  The  ghost  dance  is  wan- 


Woman's  Home  Missionary  Societies    161 

ing."    It  is  the  day-dawn  that  surely  precedes 
the  glorious  sunrise  of  the  Light  of  Life. 

SPANISH  WORK 

In  Velarde,  New  Mexico,  and  in  the  City  of 
Mexico,  faithful  missionaries  are  telling  the  story 
of  the  Cross  in  patios  and  tenement  rooms,  and 
weary  Mexican  mothers  and  bright-faced  chil- 
dren listen  and  are  glad.  There  are  also  schools 
under  the  charge  of  trained  native  teachers  in 
other  places. 

CUBA 

A  well-attended  school  is  carried  on  in  Santi- 
ago, and  already  the  missionaries  report  visible 
fruits  from  the  outlying  Sunday-schools.  "  They 
are  bright  children,  promising  well  for  the  com- 
ing womanhood  of  Cuba."  The  teacher  in 
charge  reports  her  personal  work  in  two  Sunday- 
schools,  a  Christian  Endeavour  Society,  and  a 
Loyal  Temperance  Legion — work  that  cannot 
fail  to  bear  fruit  to  life  eternal. 

PORTO  RICO 

The  work  in  Ponce  is  with  the  women  and 
children— how  arduous  such  work  is  may  be 
understood  from  the  resume  given: 

There  are  women's  meetings,  two  a  week  ;  children's  classes, 
two  a  week ;  the  regular  church  services ;  two  Sunday-schools 
each  Sunday  (if  I  were  three  women  I  would  go  to  five  Sun- 
day-schools, as  we  have  five  each  Sunday);  the  instruction  of 
candidates  for  membership,  and  the  house  to  house  work.  It 
keeps  me  busy  always. 


162    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 


Women's  Baptist  Home  Mission  Society.     Secretary,  Miss 
Mary  G.  Burdette,  2421  Indiana  Ave.t  Chicago,  III. 

AMONG  THE  INDIANS 

This  society  supports  matrons  in  several  of  the 
schools  for  Indians,  and  field  workers  in  other 
tribes,  having,  in  all,  sixteen  missionaries  among 
seven  tribes. 

Two  of  the  matrons,  or  school  mothers,  are 
serving  in  connection  with  the  Indian  University 
at  Bacone,  two  in  the  Indian  Orphanage  at  Atoka, 
and  one  in  the  Seminole  School  for  girls,  all  in 
Indian  Territory.  The  field  workers,  who  give 
special  attention  to  work  in  the  homes,  labour 
among  the  Cherokee  Indians  of  Indian  Territory, 
the  Kiowa,  Comanche,  Cheyenne  and  Arapahoe 
tribes  in  Oklahoma  and  among  the  Hopi  or  Moki 
Indians  of  Arizona.  This  work  is  being  richly 
blessed,  and  many  of  our  dusky  brothers  and 
sisters  are  being  led  into  the  "Jesus  Road,"  and 
are  honouring  Him  by  their  simple,  childlike 
faith. 

The  young  women  among  the  blanket  Indians 
of  Saddle  Mountain,  Oklahoma,  are  living  a  brave 
life-story.  Their  dauntless  courage  is  not  cooled 
by  the  chill  atmosphere  about  them  and  the  scant 
provision  against  it,  for  one  of  them  writes 
cheerily  of  wearing  her  sunbonnet  all  the  time  in 
her  own  room,  in  the  winter  weather,  but  she 
"does  not  mind."  From  this  Saddle  Mountain 
Mission  comes  the  story  of  the  gift  of  a  dollar  by 


Woman's  Home  Missionary  Societies    163 

an  Indian  towards  building  a  new  church,  with 
the  remark,  "  If  we  put  it  in  the  bank  it  will  just 
stay  one  dollar,  but  if  we  spend  it,  and  work,  i 
will  get  bigger  and  bigger." 

The  Indian  name  given  to  one  of  the  lady 
teachers  is  freely  translated,  "  The-woman-who- 
can-do-things,"  and  she  has  namesakes  in  every 
part  of  the  broad  mission  field. 

SPANISH  WORK  IN  MEXICO 
This  society  is  exceptional  in  that  its  work  on 
the  mainland  for  Spanish-speaking  people  is 
largely  carried  on  within  the  bounds  of  Mexico. 
It  has  missionaries  in  Puebla,  Monterey,  the  City 
of  Mexico,  San  Luis  Potosi,  and  other  places, 
some  of  them  being  Spanish  natives  of  Mexico, 
trained  in  the  training-school  of  the  society,  in 
Chicago.  They  work  as  teachers  in  kinder- 
gartens, and  as  Bible  women. 

A  leaflet  issued  by  this  society  gives  the  follow- 
ing vivid  picture  of  what  is  and  what  may  be — 
nay,  what  will  be: 

Dr.  William  Haigh  gave  an  inspiring  account  of  hfe  visit  to 
Mexico,  and  painted  in  vivid  word-pictures  the  Mexican  sisters 
asking  and  receiving  hearty  recognition  as  one  with  the  breth- 
ren in  Him  with  whom  "  there  is  neither  male  nor  female." 
Then  he  told  how  he  had  gone  to  the  cathedral  in  the  gray 
dawn  of  the  morning,  and  amid  the  gloomy  shadows  discerned 
the  forms  of  women  prostrating  themselves  in  ignorant  devotion 
on  cold  stones,  muttering  prayers  and  crossing  themselves, 
while  a  priest,  standing  in  the  dim  light  of  a  taper,  mumbled  in 
Latin  the  morning  service,  which  few  heard  and  none  under- 
stood. "  Here,"  said  the  doctor,  "  I  beheld  a  picture  of  Mexico 


164    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

as  she  has  been,  blinded  and  deluded  by  Romanism.  Aye,  a 
picture  of  Mexico  as  she  is.  For  as  the  day  was  dawning  in 
the  natural  world,  and  the  sun  was  even  then  hastening  his  ap- 
proach, so  I  saw  there  a  reaching  out  after  God,  and  I  believe 
the  Gospel  is  beginning  to  scatter  the  gloom.  Aye,  more.  As 
I  turned  from  the  scene  to  the  one  of  the  day  before,  and  con- 
trasted those  ignorant,  degraded  women  with  the  sisters  whom 
Christianity  has  made  intelligent  and  comely,  I  saw  a  picture  of 
the  Mexico  of  the  future,  when  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  shall 
have  arisen,  and  when  Christian  light  shall  flood  the  land." 

The  significance  of  this  work  in  Old  Mexico  is 
still  further  realized  when  one  remembers  that 
this  country  is  "the  gateway  to  forty  millions  of 
people  farther  south  who  speak  the  beautiful 
language  of  Castile." 

CUBA 

In  1900,  this  society  began  work  in  Cuba, 
sending,  through  special  offerings  from  young 
women  and  girls,  the  first  "Young  Ladies'  Mis- 
sionary." She  reached  Santiago  November  i, 
and  attended  the  church  prayer-meeting  the  night 
of  her  landing.  She  found  Sunday-schools  and 
prayer-meetings  brightened  by  the  presence  and 
voices  of  those  who  but  a  short  time  before  were 
bowing  to  images  and  pictures.  A  successful  in- 
dustrial school  was  soon  opened  by  this  faithful 
worker.  From  El  Caney  she  wrote,  June,  1901, 
"  Never  had  a  service  since  the  war.  Not  a  priest 
in  the  village.  Is  it  not  foreign  mission  work? 
And  there  are  so  many  of  these  deserted  villages, 
and  the  people  are  willing  to  come  to  hear  us." 


Woman's  Home  Missionary  Societies    165 

In  December,  a  young  woman  was  sent  to  open 
up  evangelistic  work  in  the  province  of  Puerto 
Principe.  The  methods  employed  are  exactly  the 
same  as  in  India  or  China — house-to-house  visita- 
tion, assisting  in  the  church  services,  reaching 
and  helping  the  children,  and  study  of  the  lan- 
guage. 

Other  consecrated  workers  sent  by  this  society 
are  stationed  in  Sonario,  Palma  and  Manzanillo, 
and  at  least  two  Cuban  senoritas  have  entered 
the  Chicago  training-school  to  receive  preparation 
for  work  among  their  own  people. 


PORTO  RICO 

The  work  in  Porto  Rico,  opened  a  year  earlier 
than  that  in  Cuba,  follows,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
similar  lines.  "  Porto  Rico  has  been  called  '  the 
open  door/  "  wrote  the  first  missionary  sent  out 
by  the  society,  "and  so  it  is." 

The  stories  of  missionary  adaptations  to  cir- 
cumstances, of  efforts  to  make  a  few  pieces  of 
furniture  in  a  not  over-comfortable  room  seem  a 
homelike  apartment,  of  travel  over  plains  and 
mountains  in  inconvenient  and  disagreeable  ways 
but  with  unfaltering  hearts — these  should  be  read 
in  the  special  leaflets  and  other  publications  of 
the  society.  They  are  the  same  for  all  workers, 
of  whatever  denomination,  and  there  is  always 
the  heroic  spirit  that  sees  difficulties  only  to  make 
the  best  of  them,  saying,  with  eyes  steadfastly 
fixed  on  Calvary,  "By  this  sign  I  conquer." 


166    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

CONGREGATIONAL 

The  women  of  the  Congregational  churches 
carry  on  their  Home  Missionary  work  through 
state  organizations,  of  which  there  are  now 
forty-one.  The  money  raised  by  these  state  or- 
ganizations is  sent  to  the  field  through  the 
treasuries  of  national  societies.  In  the  work 
among  the  Spanish-speaking  Americans  and  the 
Indians  these  four  societies  are  engaged : 

The  Congregational  Home  Missionary  Society, 
which  assists  in  the  support  of  pastors  in  Cuba, 
New  Mexico  and  Southern  California;  the  Con- 
gregational Education  Society,  which  supports 
schools  among  the  Spanish-speaking  people  in 
New  Mexico  and  Southern  California;  the  Sunday- 
school  and  Publishing  Society,  which  plants  Sun- 
day-schools in  the  same  localities,  and  the  Ameri- 
can Missionary  Association,  which  works  among 
the  Indians  and  also  conducts  work  among  the 
Spanish-speaking  people  of  Porto  Rico. 


CUMBERLAND  PRESBYTERIAN 

Woman's  Board  of  Missions*     Secretary,   Mrs.    Dee  F. 
Clarkey  Evansville,  Ind. 

The  women  of  this  church  have  long  been  en- 
gaged in  work  for  the  red  men.  As  early  as 
1898  a  constitution  for  a  woman's  society  was 
drawn  up  for  one  of  the  presbyteries,  and  this 
plan  was  adopted  by  the  missionary  societies  of 
the  three  presbyteries  which  at  that  time  consti- 


Woman's  Home  Missionary  Societies   167 

tuted  the  church.  In  1819  one  presbyterial 
society  of  women,  without  ceasing  to  exist  as  a 
presbyterial  organization,  was  made  the  general 
society  of  the  church,  and  the  work  among  the 
Indians  was  immediately  placed  under  its  care. 
The  field  of  this  church  has  been  largely  among 
the  tribes  in  the  southern  portion  of  our  land,  and 
in  Illinois  and  the  far  northwest. 

In  1887  the  Woman's  Board  of  Missions  began 
educational  work  among  the  Indians  in  the  Indian 
Territory.  This  work  was  carried  on  for  a  num- 
ber of  years,  until  the  establishment  of  the  govern- 
ment schools  in  that  section. 


METHODIST  EPISCOPAL 

Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society.     Secretary,  Mrs.  Delia 
L.  Williams,  Delaware,  Ohio. 

AMONG  THE  INDIANS 

The  Navajo  Mission  Home  at  Farmington,  New 
Mexico,  had  a  humble  beginning  in  a  tent,  but  is 
now  amply  housed.  "The  Navajoes  are  a  su- 
perior race,"  says  the  missionary  in  charge,  "but 
they  have  no  conception  of  a  holy  God.  Our 
boys  and  girls  are  improving  year  by  year,  and 
are  learning  that  sin  is  their  worst  enemy,  and 
that  Jesus  came  to  destroy  this  enemy.  They 
are  also  learning  that  those  who  do  not  work  are 
of  little  account  in  this  world,  and  that  to  be 
honest  and  industrious  and  have  a  home  of  one's 
own  is  a  worthy  aim  in  life." 


168    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

In  Dulce,  New  Mexico,  encouraging  work  has 
been  wrought,  and  the  young  Indian  and  Mexican 
children  are  learning  to  lead  in  prayer  and  are  be- 
ing trained  for  future  religious  service. 

Over  two  hundred  services  in  one  year,  and 
many  fruits  of  diligent  toil  show  what  is  being  ac- 
complished in  Pawnee,  the  oldest  Indian  station 
under  this  society. 

Two  women  founded  the  mission  in  Ponca, 
Oklahoma,  where  now  many  young  people  of 
the  flower  of  the  tribe  are  upon  the  church  roll. 
Other  stations  show  similar  encouraging  results. 

In  Stickney  Memorial  Home,  in  Lynden,  Wash- 
ington, the  girls  are  making  progress  in  womanly 
arts,  and  the  boys  in  gardening  and  farming.  The 
religious  outlook  is  most  cheering. 

IN  NEW  MEXICO  AND  CALIFORNIA 

The  most  important  homes  and  schools  for 
Spanish-speaking  people  in  "the  States  "  under 
the  care  of  this  society  are  at  Albuquerque,  New 
Mexico  (Harwood  Home),  and  Los  Angeles,  Cali- 
fornia (Frances  De  Pauw  Home).  There  are  also 
mission  stations  at  Las  Vegas  and  Tucson,  Ari- 
zona. 

Harwood  Home  has  an  enviable  record  of  suc- 
cess, and  furnishes  abundant  proof  that  there  is 
splendid  material  for  Christian  womanhood  in 
the  Mexican  girls  of  the  far  West.  The  mis- 
sionary superintendent  of  the  work  of  the  Method- 
ist church  in  that  section  bears  fitting  testimony 
to  the  effects  of  the  teaching  given  in  this  indus- 


Woman's  Home  Missionary  Societies    169 

trial  Home  as  seen  in  afterlife.  "With  a  little 
change  in  phraseology,"  he  says,  "we  can  say 
with  Whittier, 

Their  homes  are  cheerier  for  their  sake, 
And  all  about,  the  social  air 
Is  sweeter  for  their  coming. 

Perhaps  the  spirit  that  animates  the  girls  in 
this  Home  may  best  be  shown  by  a  quotation 
from  a  letter  written  by  one  of  them  to  her 
brothers, 

I  am  enjoying  my  vacation  very  much,  but  I  long  for  Sep- 
tember to  come,  for  you  know  that  I  shall  take  up  my  studies 
again,  and  the  harder  I  study  the  sooner  I'll  be  ready  to  go  out 
as  a  mission  teacher.  Then  I  shall  send  money  to  you  for  your 
education.  Go  to  school  when  you  can,  do  the  best  you  can, 
and  in  three  years  I  think  I  can  teach,  and  then  I'll  educate 
you.  I'll  put  you  in  some  good  Christian  school,  and  I  know 
you'll  be  two  of  the  brightest  boys  in  the  United  States. 

Most  of  the  pupils  in  the  Frances  De  Pauw 
Industrial  School  come  from  Protestant  families, 
although  in  this  school,  as  at  Albuquerque,  there 
are  many  from  Catholic  homes.  It  is  distinctly 
understood  with  all  parents  whose  daughters  are 
admitted  that  these  are  Protestant  schools,  and  a 
large  proportion  of  the  girls  become  Protestant 
Christians  while  in  the  school. 

These  girls  learn  English  readily,  do  good  work 
in  their  studies  and  are,  as  a  rule,  good  singers, 
being  very  fond  of  music.  A  girl  in  this  school, 
delighted  with  the  dainty  furnishings  in  such  con- 


170    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

trast  with  the  wood-chopper's  tent  that  had  been 
her  home,  patted  the  white  bed  with  her  hands, 
ecstatically  exclaiming,  "My  good  bed!  My 
good  bed!"  In  her  father's  tent  she  had  slept 
on  the  ground,  in  her  day  clothing,  wrapped  in 
a  dirty  rug! 

IN  PORTO  RICO 

The  work  of  this  society  is  now  centered  in 
San  Juan  and  its  suburb,  San  Turce.  In  the 
heart  of  the  city  is  located  the  McKinley  day 
school,  its  pupils  being  required  to  attend  Sun- 
day-school as  well.  The  need  of  such  a  school 
— and  of  many  such — is  understood  when  it  is 
known  that  the  government  and  private  schools 
are  far  from  sufficient  to  house  and  teach  all  the 
children  of  school  age. 

In  San  Turce  is  established  the  George  O.  Robin- 
son Orphanage,  in  which  from  twelve  to  twenty 
Porto  Rican  girls  are  receiving  the  teaching  and 
training  that  will  enable  them  to  make  homes 
worthy  the  name,  and  to  be  leaders  in  the  new 
life  that  is  surely  coming  to  the  beautiful  island. 

Deaconess  work  is  also  carried  on,  and  what 
this  means  is  best  told  by  one  of  the  workers: 

"  I  don't  know  why,  but  it  gave  me  a  pain  in  my  heart  be- 
cause you  spoke  from  your  heart,"  said  a  poor  black  woman  to 
a  deaconess  who  had  given  a  brief  talk  to  a  company  of  native 
people. 

The  deaconess  sat  in  a  great  bent  wood  rocking-chair  in  the 
parlour  of  one  of  the  best  rooms  in  San  Juan.  The  light  was 
tempered  by  the  partial  closing  of  the  high-shuttered  doors 


Woman's  Home  Missionary  Societies    171 

opening  on  the  balcony,  the  floor  was  of  stone  tiles,  refreshing 
to  the  eye.  A  cool  breeze  blew  through,  stirring  the  tall  green 
plants  that  adorned  the  room.  A  Porto  Rican  lady  of  refine- 
ment and  education  entered  with  outstretched  hands,  greeting 
the  deaconess.  "  I  come  in  to  see  you  and  you  are  so  calm. 
There  is  a  great  quiet.  I  have  a  scratch  on  my  arm — you 
pour  oil  on  it ;  this  is  the  effect  you  have  on  me." 

Shameless  beggary  in  the  streets  of  San  Juan  has  been  pro- 
hibited. Horrors  of  deformity  creeping  from  door  to  door  or 
dragged  in  carts  by  interested  relatives  or  friends  are  not  so 
much  in  evidence  as  formerly,  when,  especially  on  Saturday 
morning,  it  was  difficult  to  keep  one's  footing  on  the  yard- 
wide  sidewalks  because  of  the  procession  of  pitiful,  repulsive 
mendicants. 

But  another  form  of  beggary,  quite  as  pernicious,  still  exists. 
The  Roman  Catholic  nuns  go  about  daily,  begging  from  house 
to  house  and  from  store  to  store,  for  money  to  sustain  their  con- 
vents, putting  generally  "  the  Holy  Sacrament,"  or  "  Blessed 
Souls  "  as  the  objects  for  their  charity. 

If  a  servant  answers  their  rap  at  the  door  she  is  keenly  ques- 
tioned, and  if  she  has  the  courage  to  overcome  her  superstitious 
fears  of  these  black-robed,  mysterious  women,  and  boldly  tell 
them  she  is  a  Protestant,  she  is  bitterly  reproached  and  repri- 
manded, and  ordered  to  go  to  the  parish  priest  and  confess,  on 
penalty,  if  she  refuses  to  do  so,  of  being  forever  condemned 
with  the  Protestants. 

A  Porto  Rican  girl  of  sixteen  years  went  to  the  deaconess  for 
information. 

"  Isadora  says  you  say  the  Lord  helps  those  who  obey  the 
commandments.  What  are  the  commandments  ?  " 

Among  other  questions  frequently  asked  are,  "  What  is  the 
Bible  ?  "  «  Who  is  Jehovah  ?  "  "  Do  the  Protestants  believe 
in  God?" 

The  deaconess  enters  a  wide  hallway  opening  off  from  one  of 
the  principal  streets.  She  passes  by  the  dark  rooms  on  either 


172    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

side  where  women  are  ironing  by  candle-light  though  the  sun  is 
shining  brightly  outside,  going  on  to  the  large  patio,  or  court- 
yard, into  which  the  hall  leads.  Here  she  finds  many  women 
ironing,  many  standing  at  their  washtubs ;  high  overhead  hang 
quantities  of  wet  clothing,  while  under  feet  on  the  wet  stones 
naked  babies  are  creeping  and  slipping  about.  The  women 
greet  the  deaconess  pleasantly,  and  accept  eagerly  the  Spanish 
tracts,  though  few  of  them  can  read. 

She  reads  to  them  from  the  Spanish  Testament,  and  a  group 
of  interested  listeners  gathers  at  the  door.  The  patient,  hungry, 
wistful  faces  are  lighted  with  the  new  hope  of  a  future  life  that 
takes  the  bitterness  from  their  present  wretched  condition. 
They  have  known  nothing  of  privacy  or  family  life,  having  al- 
ways lived  with  a  large  number  of  persons  in  one  room.  They 
have  breathed  bad  air,  and  eaten  improper  and  insufficient  food. 
They  have  had  no  opportunity  for  education,  and  until  a  few 
months  ago  were  without  hope  in  the  world. 


METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  SOUTH 

Woman's  Home  Mission  Society.     Secretary,  Mrs.  R.  W. 
MacDonell,  Nashville,  Tenn. 

WORK  AMONG  THE  CUBANS  IN  FLORIDA  1 

Shakespeare  says,  "  An  honest  tale  speeds  best, 
being  plainly  told,"  and  so  the  story  of  Cuban 
and  Italian  immigration  needs  naught  but  fact  to 
awaken  a  lively  interest  in  those  who  study  the 
conditions  of  our  country. 

Cuban  immigration,  in  large  numbers,  dates 
from  December  18,  1868,  when  political  refugees 

1  By  Miss  Mary  W.  Bruce,  Superintendent  of  work  among 
Cubans  and  Italians  in  Florida. 


Woman's  Home  Missionary  Societies   173 

from  a  revolution  which  lasted  ten  years  sought 
refuge  in  Key  West,  Florida. 

In  1869,  Senor  Martinez  Ybor  moved  his  cigar 
factory  to  Key  West  and  remained  there  until 
1886,  when  he  removed  to  Tampa,  and  founded 
Ybor  City.  Oppressive  taxation  by  the  Spanish 
government  caused  many  tobacco  factories  to  be 
moved  over  to  the  southern  portion  of  Florida 
and  the  people  followed  in  large  numbers. 
These  people  struggled,  not  only  for  bread, 
but  to  help  the  island  of  Cuba  in  the  struggle 
for  liberty.  Thus  Southern  Florida  has  been 
closely  associated  with  the  varying  fortunes  of 
Cuba. 

It  has  been  estimated  that  there  are  thirty  thou- 
sand Spanish-speaking  people  in  Florida.  In 
Key  West  alone  there  are  six  thousand,  while 
at  Ybor  City  and  West  Tampa  twelve  thousand 
five  hundred  are  located.  In  addition  to  these 
foreigners  there  are  six  thousand  Italians,  a  few 
Greeks,  Syrians  and  Chinese  in  these  two  sub- 
urbs of  the  beautiful  city  of  Tampa.  The  num- 
ber of  factories  has  increased  until  in  1904,  there 
were  two  hundred  in  Tampa,  which  employed 
12,000  operatives.  The  amount  of  wages  paid 
to  cigar  makers  was  $5,200,000,  and  the  receipts 
for  stamps  in  the  customs  were  $53,000.  The 
output  of  cigars  was  167,673,000. 

It  is  impossible  to  speak  of  these  people  with- 
out speaking  of  tobacco  factories,  for  it  is  in 
these  that  most  find  employment.  Since  tobacco 
is  tobacco,  one  has  some  idea  of  the  life  of  the 


174    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

worker.  A  few  years  in  these  factories  make 
the  operatives  old  men  and  women,  not  because 
the  work  is  hard,  or  hours  long,  or  of  great  op- 
pression, because  a  comparison  of  the  Florida 
cigar  factories  with  mills  anywhere  else  would 
reveal  conditions  largely  in  favour  of  the  former, 
so  far  as  hours,  restrictions  and  wages  go.  But 
the  people  deteriorate  from  one  generation  to 
another.  The  difference  between  the  sturdy  old 
Spaniard  and  his  grandson  who  works  in  one  of 
these  factories  is  an  unanswerable  proof  of  this 
assertion.  These  Latin-tongued  peoples  were 
all  Romanist  born,  but  the  larger  part  have  be- 
come rank  unbelievers. 

What  has  been  done  for  these  people  who 
have  come  to  enjoy  the  freedom  of  our  country 
and  gain  a  livelihood  ?  Very  little  in  those 
early  years.  In  1873,  Dr.  Charles  Fulwood 
was  moved  at  the  sight  of  these  "sheep  with- 
out a  shepherd  "  and  requested  the  Florida  Con- 
ference of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  South, 
to  send  a  missionary  who  might  give  his  whole 
time  to  these  Spanish-speaking  people.  Rev.  A. 
Vandeizer  was  appointed,  but  died  from  yellow 
fever  soon  after  reaching  the  island.  His  dying 
words  were,  "  Don't  give  up  the  Cuban  Mission." 
There  was  no  further  effort  made  to  help  these 
people  until  1887,  when  the  Rev.  Enrique  Someil- 
lan,  a  converted  Cuban,  was  appointed  to  this 
interesting  field.  The  eloquent,  devoted  servant 
of  our  Master  reached  many  souls  and  did  a  good 
work  at  Key  West  and  later  in  Tampa. 


Woman's  Home  Missionary  Societies    175 

Responding  to  earnest  appeals,  the  Woman's 
Home  Mission  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  began  a  primary  school  at  Ybor 
City  in  1892.  This  is  known  as  the  Wolff  Mis- 
sion school.  Two  years  later,  the  society  opened 
a  second  school  at  West  Tampa.  At  both  of 
these  places  a  church,  Sunday-school  and  League 
have  been  developed,  as  well  as  a  day  nursery. 
There  were  tentative  efforts  at  schools  in  Key 
West,  but  nothing  stable  until  1898,  when  the 
Woman's  Home  Mission  Society  sent  two  con- 
secrated teachers  to  begin  work.  From  this 
effort  a  firstclass  primary  school,  known  as  the 
Ruth  Hargrove  Seminary,  with  a  faculty  of  ten 
teachers,  has  grown.  The  enrollment  of  this 
school  in  1905  was  three  hundred,  at  least  a 
fourth  of  whom  were  Spanish-speaking.  In 
Ybor  City  and  West  Tampa  there  were  two  hun- 
dred and  thirty-five,  all  of  the  Latin  race. 

A  friend  of  Enrique  Someillan's  childhood  be- 
came a  minister  of  the  Episcopal  church,  and  had 
charge  of  a  work  in  West  Tampa  and  Ybor  City 
until  1899,  when  the  mission  was  transferred  to 
Cuba.  A  Congregational  church  and  school  and 
a  mission  established  by  the  Baptist  church  suf- 
fered a  similar  fate,  for  it  was  believed  that  the 
Cubans  in  Florida  would  return  home  after  the 
Spanish-American  war.  But,  on  the  contrary, 
larger  and  larger  numbers  come  to  our  country, 
so  that  work  must  be  carried  forward  with  un- 
remitting zeal.  The  Baptist  church  has  recently 
reopened  work  in  Ybor  City.  The  Roman  Catho- 


176    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

lies  have  a  large,  fine  convent  at  Key  West,  which 
boasted  last  year  of  five  hundred  pupils  enrolled, 
one  in  Ybor  City,  one  in  West  Tampa  and  one  in 
Tampa  proper.  The  two  first  mentioned  are 
chiefly  Spanish-speaking,  the  last,  English.  It 
has  not  been  possible  to  get  exact  statistics,  but 
not  less  than  five  hundred  are  in  these  convent 
schools  on  the  mainland. 

As  to  the  results  of  effort  among  these  people 
we  would  say  that  the  grace  of  God  moves  and 
changes  them  as  it  does  others,  and  there  are 
some  shining  examples  of  the  beauty  of  holiness 
among  them.  The  work  is  not  easy,  because 
there  is  so  much  to  weed  out  before  the  good 
can  spring  up.  We  have  found  the  surest  way 
to  be  through  the  schools,  for  we  reach  not  only 
the  child  but  the  whole  family.  One  small  boy 
in  the  kindergarten  fell  sick  and  lingered  many 
weeks.  His  constant  cry  was  to  go  back  to 
school  and  finally  his  father  brought  him  in  his 
arms  to  the  school  where  he  enjoyed  a  few  mo- 
ments. Shortly  afterwards  he  died  and  it  was  the 
Christ  the  little  fellow  had  found  in  the  school 
who  soothed  the  mother-heart  and  in  time 
brought  the  whole  family  into  the  church. 

The  opportunities  and  methods  of  work  are 
wide  and  varied.  The  women  are  reached 
largely  by  visits  to  their  homes,  for  they  go 
out  but  little,  save  the  large  number  who  are 
in  the  factories.  Boys'  clubs,  night  classes  and 
other  social  functions  give  access  to  the  young 
people. 


Woman's  Home  Missionary  Societies   177 

The  work  in  Florida  has  contributed  largely  to 
that  in  Cuba,  and  to-day  eighty-five  per  cent,  of 
the  Cuban  preachers  of  all  denominations  on  the 
island  first  heard  the  gospel  in  Key  West  or  Ybor 
City.  Knowing  these  things  "we  thank  God 
and  take  courage." 


PRESBYTERIAN 

Woman's  Board  of  Home  Missions.     Secretary,  Mrs.  Ella 
A.  Boole,  156  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York  City. 

INDIAN 

To  name  in  detail  the  various  schools  and  other 
lines  of  Indian  mission  work  carried  on  by  this 
society  is  impossible  in  the  present  limits  of  space. 
In  class-room  and  industrial  work  most  efficient 
service  is  rendered,  and  evangelistic  effort,  includ- 
ing the  holding  of  Sunday-schools,  and  public 
services,  is  by  no  means  neglected.  "In  almost 
every  mission  and  school,"  says  a  recent  writer, 
"there  has  been  special  interest,  and  from  many 
have  come  reports  of  remarkable  manifestations 
of  the  Spirit's  power  in  the  conviction  and  con- 
version of  souls." 

The  training  of  Indian  boys  and  girls  who  are 
to  make  their  support  by  tilling  the  soil  and  en- 
gaging in  the  ordinary  avocations  of  life  is  sure 
to  tell  for  marked  good  on  the  next  generation. 
The  principal  Indian  schools  maintained  by  this 
Board  are  in  Oklahoma,  Indian  Territory,  Arizona, 
California,  Idaho,  Montana,  New  Mexico,  South 


178    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

Dakota  and  Utah.  As  typical  illustrations  of  the 
work  and  its  value,  we  quote  the  following  : 

"The  Henry  Kendall  College,  Muskogee,  Indian 
Territory,  has  a  regular  college  curriculum,  a  high 
standard  of  scholarship,  and  its  Bible  work  is  ex- 
ceptionally excellent.  Almost  every  tribe  in  In- 
dian Territory  is  represented  among  the  students. 
This  has  been  the  scene  of  Mrs.  Robertson's  la- 
bours in  translating  the  Scriptures  into  the  Creek 
language. 

"The  Training  and  Industrial  School  for  Pimas 
and  Papagoes,  in  Tucson,  Arizona,  consists  of 
Homes  for  boys  and  girls,  a  laundry,  a  carpenter- 
shop,  superintendent's  home,  a  ranch  cultivated 
by  the  boys,  and  class-rooms  where  creditable 
work  is  done.  In  addition  to  the  ordinary  indus- 
tries of  a  large  institution  of  this  kind,  the  boys 
have  had  the  contract  for  street-cleaning  in  Tuc- 
son, doing  the  work  satisfactorily  and,  with  other 
work  for  citizens,  bringing  to  the  school  a  revenue 
of  from  one  to  three  thousand  dollars  a  year. 

"The  work  among  the  Nez  Perces,  in  Idaho, 
has  not  only  influenced  that  tribe  to  a  marvellous 
degree,  but  has  extended  to  neighbouring  tribes 
to  whom  these  Christianized  Indians  have  sent 
missionaries.  This  work  was  begun  by  two 
sisters,  the  Misses  McBeth.  For  many  years  be- 
fore she  was  'promoted/  one  of  them  conducted 
a  theological  training-class,  which  is  still  con- 
tinued by  the  other.  In  1904,  nine  native  minis- 
ters, trained  by  Miss  McBeth,  were  in  charge  of 
promising  fields.  Although  partly  paralyzed, 


Woman's  Home  Missionary  Societies   179 

this  devoted  woman  made  her  little  home  a 
centre  of  helpfulness  for  seventeen  years.  There 
the  young  men  gathered  for  instruction  and  the 
women  came  to  be  drilled  in  housewifely  arts. 
The  whole  village  shows  the  refining  influence 
of  this  home." 

A  most  interesting  line  of  work  under  the 
control  of  this  Board  is  that  for  the  Assina- 
boine  Indians  at  Wolf  Point,  Montana.  So  inter- 
ested are  the  Indians  themselves  in  this  school 
that  they  have  assumed  the  entire  support  of 
their  children  in  its  boarding  department. 

In  Good  Will,  South  Dakota,  the  very  name  of 
the  place  is  significant  of  the  attitude  of  both 
teachers  and  taught.  Although  their  children 
could  be  educated  in  the  government  schools 
without  cost  to  their  parents,  there  is  a  large 
Christian  element  in  the  community  that  prefers 
to  pay  in  order  to  have  its  children  under  re- 
ligious influences. 

The  Indian  homes  in  the  vicinity  of  the  mission 
station  in  Shem  City,  Utah,  have  shown  such 
remarkable  transformation — keeping  pace  with 
lives  equally  transformed — as  to  render  this  "  one 
of  the  most  interesting  stations  under  the 
Woman's  Board." 

SPANISH-SPEAKING  PEOPLE 

Perhaps  no  better  proof  can  be  given  of  the 

value  of  the  work  done  for  Spanish-speaking 

people  under  the  auspices  of  this  society,  than 

the  statement  that  twenty  Presbyterian  churches 


180    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

in  New  Mexico  and  seven  in  Colorado  have  been 
the  direct  outgrowth  of  its  mission  schools. 

Here,  as  elsewhere,  it  is  emphatically  true  that 
the  missionaries,  by  whatever  board  commis- 
sioned, work  with  constantly  interlinking  lines 
of  service.  The  first  school  opened,  at  Las 
Vegas,  was  later  transferred  to  Albuquerque, 
under  the  name  of  the  Menaul  Training-school 
(for  boys  alone).  One  of  its  latest  outgrowths 
is  Pierson  Hall,  a  building  erected  to  meet  the 
needs  of  the  training-class  for  native  evangelists, 
and  commemorating  an  honoured  name  in  the 
annals  of  the  society. 

Fine  boarding-schools  for  Mexican  girls  are 
located  at  Santa  Fe  and  Los  Angeles,  and  about 
twenty-five  day-schools  are  maintained  in  New 
Mexico  and  Colorado.  The  opportunities  for  this 
work  of  Christian  education  are  practically  un- 
limited. A  Mexican,  asked  if  the  priests  would 
not  oppose  the  public  schools,  replied,  "Yes. 
But  what  of  it?  The  world  is  moving  and  we 


PORTO  RICO 

While  the  work  of  the  woman's  board  in  Porto 
Rico  is  comparatively  new,  it  is  full  of  promise. 
Two  large  schools  have  been  established  in 
Mayaguez,  and  several  in  smaller  towns. 

Among  the  most  effective  aids  to  the  progress 
of  Christian  citizenship  in  Porto  Rico  must  be 
mentioned  the  hospital  work.  Luke,  the  beloved 
physician,  must  travel  with  Paul  the  Apostle 


Woman's  Home  Missionary  Societies   181 

upon  the  missionary  journey.  The  "Jesus  way  " 
is  the  healing  of  suffering  bodies  as  a  means  to 
reach  sin-sick  souls.  All  the  mission  boards  rec- 
ognize this  necessity,  and  also  the  openings  in 
Porto  Rico,  but  not  all  have  been  able  as  yet  to 
improve  the  urgent  opportunity. 

The  hospital  in  San  Juan,  largely  the  gift  of  the 
young  people's  societies  of  the  Presbyterian 
church,  is  typical  in  kind  and  illustrative  as  to 
work.  It  is  built  on  the  cottage  system,  and 
consists  of  four  buildings— dispensary,  adminis- 
tration and  charity,  the  surrounding  porches  being 
connected  by  bridges. 

The  morning  office-hours  in  the  dispensary  are 
begun  by  short  Scripture  reading  and  prayer. 
Patients  are  encouraged  to  come  early,  and  often 
they  overflow  the  waiting-room.  A  still  shorter 
service  is  held  before  the  afternoon  office  hour. 
The  dispensary  clerk  sells  Bibles,  Testaments  and 
Gospels,  and  many  buy. 

The  medical  work  grows  daily.  People  come 
from  surrounding  towns  to  be  treated.  If  able  to 
pay,  they  are  charged  moderate  fees,  the  lowest 
being  ten  cents.  If  too  poverty-stricken  for  this, 
medicine  and  care  are  given  freely.  Most  of  the 
patients  have  a  self-respecting  wish  to  pay  for 
service,  the  principle  having  been  clearly  incul- 
cated from  the  beginning.  Those  who  have  no 
money  often  bring  vegetables,  fruits,  and  other 
eatables  and  usables.  One  of  the  first  cases  made 
payment  by  bringing  a  chicken,  and  some  bamboo 
sprouts  to  plant  on  the  hospital  grounds.  The 


182    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

burden  and  blessing  in  this  work  are  continually 
increasing,  not  only  in  the  healing  of  bodies  but 
in  the  cure  of  souls. 

A  training-school  for  nurses  promises  to  be  of 
great  value.  Most  of  the  instruction  is  given  in 
English,  which  Porto  Rican  girls  learn  to  speak  sur- 
prisingly well.  They  are  deeply  interested  in  the 
studies,  and  make  excellent  progress.  It  is  not 
unusual  to  see  those  of  the  nurses  who  are 
Christians  reading  the  Bible  to  their  patients  after 
finishing  their  work. 

CUBA 

The  work  in  Cuba  is  mainly  educational  and 
evangelistic.  Schools  have  been  established  in 
Havana,  Guines,  Sancti  Spiritus,  San  Nicholas  and 
Nueva  Paz,  and  Sabbath-schools  and  young  peo- 
ple's societies  organized,  with  great  prospects  for 
good.  Petitions  are  constantly  being  received  for 
the  opening  of  new  work. 


PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL 

Woman's  Auxiliary  to  the  Board  of  Missions.  Secretary, 
Miss  Julia  C.  Emery,  281  Fourth  Avenue,  New  York 
City. 

Woman's  missionary  work  in  this  church  is  so 
in-woven  with  that  of  its  general  missionary  so- 
ciety that  it  is  impossible  to  separate  them.  No 
workers  are  doing  more  heroic  service,  or  spend- 
ing themselves  more  freely  in  the  Master's  serv- 


Woman's  Home  Missionary  Societies    183 

ice.  The  "  United  Offering"  made  triennially  by 
the  Woman's  Auxiliary  is  the  source  of  untold 
help  and  cheer  on  many  a  mission  field . 

The  arrangement  of  fields  differs  materially  from 
that  adopted  by  other  societies,  the  Philippines 
being  included  in  the  home  and  Cuba  in  the 
foreign.  The  work  in  Alaska,  which  is  largely 
among  the  Indians,  will  be  presented  in  a  later 
volume  of  this  series. 

THE  INDIAN  FIELD 

From  the  Indian  mission  stations  come  the  same 
tidings  of  progress  amid  difficulties  that  have  al- 
ready been  reported  by  other  denominations. 
Special  attention  should  be  directed  to  the  work 
in  a  field  not  entered  by  others,  that  in  Florida, 
among  the  "little  remnant  of  between  four  and 
five  hundred  Seminole  Indians,"  in  "the  mysteri- 
ous fastnesses  of  the  Everglades  and  the  boggy 
and  ever-varying  trails  through  the  Big  Cypress 
Swamp  region."  "  Here  good  and  faithful  souls, 
beyond  society  and  civilized  pursuits,  have  con- 
secrated the  remainder  of  their  lives  to  the  work 
of  civilizing  and  Christianizing"  these  people,  and 
"whatever  the  trials,  troubles  and  disappoint- 
ments are,  they  have  not  flinched  nor  even 
wavered  in  the  determination  to  give  their  lives." 
Truly  the  age  of  heroes  is  not  past  ! 

Among  the  Navajoes  in  Arizona,  the  Shoshones, 
Arapahoes  and  Bannocks  in  Idaho,  in  Minnesota, 
Wisconsin,  the  Dakotas,  Oklahoma,  Indian  Terri- 
tory, Utah  and  California,  there  are  mission 


184    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

stations,  schools  and  homes  under  the  care  of  the 
missionary  societies  and  workers  of  this  church. 

THE  PHILIPPINES 

For  the  last  four  years,  since  the  consecration  of 
Bishop  Brent,  in  1901,  as  Bishop  of  the  Philippines, 
important  work  has  been  done  in  the  far-away 
archipelago.  Besides  the  establishment  of 
churches  and  schools,  settlement,  and  dispensary 
and  deaconess  work  have  received  much  atten- 
tion. Here,  as  elsewhere,  the  fields  are  "  white  to 
the  harvest." 

CUBA 

A  new  impetus  has  been  given  to  the  work  of 
the  Episcopal  Church  in  Cuba,  through  the  con- 
secration of  the  first  bishop,  a  few  months  ago. 
The  ministrations  of  the  church  are  being  stead- 
ily sought  by  and  gradually  extended  among  both 
English  and  Spanish-speaking  people.  The  mis- 
sions, now  numbering  about  twenty,  have 
doubled  since  January,  1905.  Among  the  most 
promising  enterprises  are  the  schools  for  Cuban 
children  in  Havana  and  Guantanamo,  conducted 
by  American  and  Cuban  women  workers. 

PORTO  RICO 

"  Short  of  helpers  "  is  the  familiar  word  that 
comes  from  this  island.  "  In  labours  manifold" 
might  well  be  added.  By  special  gift  from  the 
Woman's  Auxiliary,  a  rectory  has  been  secured  at 
Ponce,  and  a  school  at  San  Juan  furnished  for  one 
hundred  children. 


Woman's  Home  Missionary  Societies    185 

REFORMED  CHURCH  IN  AMERICA 

Woman's  Executive  Committee  of  the  Board  of  Domestic 
Missions.  Secretary,  Mrs.  John  S.  Allen,  25  E. 
Twenty-second  Sf.,  New  York  City. 

The  Woman's  Executive  Committee  of  the 
Board  of  Domestic  Missions  has  its  allotted  work 
among  the  Indians.  Geographically,  this  field 
lies  in  southwestern  Oklahoma,  and  embraces 
three  stations,  the  Colony,  the  Apache,  or  Fort 
Sill  Mission,  and  the  Comanche  Mission.  The 
first  of  these  is  the  older  and  the  better  developed. 
In  the  Comanche  Mission,  the  hereditary  chief, 
Periconic,  and  the  former  leading  medicine  man 
of  the  tribe,  Nahwats,  are  earnest  members  of 
the  church.  In  spite  of  difficulties,  those  who 
live  among  these  Indians  are  convinced  that  this 
is  but  "the  valley  of  transition,  and  that  already 
this  staggering,  half-paralyzed  mass  of  humanity 
is  gaining  its  foothold,  and  moving  forward." 
Many  have  been  reached  through  the  great  an- 
nual camp-meetings,  attended  by  both  Apaches 
and  Comanches. 

The  work  among  the  camp  Indians,  or  those 
not  connected  with  the  schools,  is  beset  with 
obstacles  and  is  very  slow.  Nevertheless,  God 
has  given  His  servants  favour  in  the  eyes  of  those 
hardest  to  reach.  Superstition  and  suspicion  are 
yielding,  and  the  missionaries  are  received  as  true 
friends,  which  gives  opportunity  for  "  the  onset 
of  love."  Little  by  little  the  power  of  God's 
Spirit  is  breaking  these  pagan  ranks. 


186    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

The  Mohonk  Lodge,  a  philanthropic  and  in- 
dustrial institution,  built  by  funds  given  by  the 
Mohonk  Conference,  while  not  under  the  direct 
care  of  the  Reformed  Church,  is  directed  by  two 
of  the  missionaries  of  this  denomination.  In  one 
year  the  industrial  department  paid  the  Indian 
women  for  their  beadwork  nearly  $2,500,  and  it 
stands  ready  to  give  every  willing  Indian  woman 
a  self-supporting  industry.  "  Hand  in  hand  with 
this,"  writes  the  missionary,  "  have  gone  the  care 
of  the  sick  and  patient  attention  to  the  varied 
needs  of  our  child-like  people,  so  that  we  take 
pleasure  in  attributing  to  this  branch  of  the  work 
a  generous  share  of  the  success  with  which  God 
is  now  crowning  our  mission." 


IN  CONCLUSION 


«« Which  now  of  these,    .    .     .     was  neighbour  unto  him  ?  " 


IN  CONCLUSION 

"Of  making  many  books  there  is  no  end"  but 
each  must  come  to  its  conclusion  some  time.  In 
such  a  study  of  opportunities  as  this,  unless  the 
readers  come  to  a  conclusion  which  is  to  them 
the  beginning  of  better  practice,  instead  of  the 
end  of  precept,  what  shall  it  profit  ? 

"Let  us  hear  the  conclusion  of  the  whole 
matter:  Fear  God  and  keep  His  commandments, 
for  this  is  the  whole  duty  of  man."  "Master," 
we  ask,  "which  is  the  great  commandment  of 
the  law?"  He  answers,  "Thou  shalt  love  the 
Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart  and  with  all  thy 
soul  and  with  all  thy  mind.  This  is  the  first  and 
great  commandment.  And  the  second  is  like 
unto  it :  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself. " 
Truly,  "If  a  man  love  not  his  brother  whom  he 
hath  seen,  how  can  he  love  God  whom  he  hath 
not  seen?" 

The  second  commandment  gives  us  the  meas- 
ure of  neighbourly  love— "As  thyself."  "All 
that  a  man  hath  will  he  give  for  his  life  "  and  the 
Lord  Jehovah  did  not  dispute  the  word,  although 
it  was  Job's  accuser  and  His  own  arch-enemy 
that  said  it.  How  much,  then,  will  one  give  for 
his  neighbour's  life — not  only  "that  which  now 
is,  but  that  which  is  to  come  ?  "  We  dare  not, 
cannot  be  indifferent.  We  must  decide  and  do. 
189 


Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

'He  that  is  void  of  wisdom  (margin,  destitute 
of  heart)  despiseth  his  neighbour." 

As  a  people  we  are  not  of  these  scorners,  desti- 
tute of  heart.  We  gratefully  acknowledge  "the 
good  Hand  of  our  God  upon  us"  as  a  nation,  in 
that  He  has  made  us  a  help  and  channel  of  bless- 
ing to  our  neighbours,  whatever  the  hue  in  which 
His  image  has  been  cut. 

Whatever  the  wrongs  of  the  Indian  in  the  past, 
through  legislative  errors,  and  lack  of  the  love 
that  beareth  and  hopeth  all  things,  the  Red 
Man's  Burden  lies  upon  our  hearts  to-day  as  never 
before.  In  spite  of  the  bondage  of  habits  riveted 
by  mistaken  policy  and  neglect  in  teaching,  the 
Indian  is  now  to  be  prepared  for  Christian  citizen- 
ship. It  rests  with  God's  people  of  every  name 
to  hasten  this  work,  for  law  will  not  avail  with- 
out Gospel,  too. 

"Who  is  my  neighbour?"  He  lies,  robbed 
and  wretched,  upon  the  Jericho  road.  Said  a 
thoughtful  man,  "It  is  not  true  neighbourliness 
unless  you  take  the  trouble  to  go  across  the  road." 
Certainly  it  is  easier  to  cast  a  glance  of  compas- 
sion, or  toss  a  coin  in  passing,  but  now  let  us 
cross  over  to  our  red  neighbour  with  "oil  and 
wine  and  our  own  beast,"  to  set  him  thereon  and 
bring  him  to  the  inn,  there  to  go  security  for 
whatsoever  more  is  needed  for  his  recovery. 

It  remains  also  for  us  to  prove  to  our  new  island 
citizens  that  "  Better  is  a  neighbour  that  is  near 
than  a  brother  afar  off."  There  no  time  now  to 
lose  in  comment  or  criticism.  To  us  much  has 


In  Conclusion  191 

been  given,  in  our  heroic  past,  of  holy  privilege 
and  present  advantage  and  of  us  much  will  be  re- 
quired. We  are  not  to  "  call  our  rich  neighbours  " 
to  the  feast,  but  to  "  remember  the  words  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  how  He  said,  It  is  more  blessed  to  give 
than  to  receive." 

The  midnight  knock  of  our  beseeching  neighbour 

We  will  not  fail  to  heed. 
No  selfish  ease,  nor  dread  of  homely  labour, 

Shall  leave  him  there  to  plead. 

The  love  of  Christ  divine,  now  intercedeth 

For  him  before  our  door, 
And  we  will  rise  and  give  him  what  he  needeth, 

For  God  hath  blessed  our  store. 

And  "  Inasmuch  " — that  Voice  above  all  other 

Repeats  the  tender  plea — 
"  As  ye  do  minister  to  this,  My  brother, 

Ye  do  it  unto  Me." 


COLLATERAL  READING 

First  in  importance  as  collateral  reading  are  the  various 
periodicals  and  leaflets  published  by  the  Home  Missionary 
Boards.  Many  schools — especially  those  among  the  Indians — 
publish  papers  that  are  worth  consulting. 

Government  reports  contain  much  that  is  helpful  and  inter- 
esting concerning  both  the  Indian  and  Spanish  races.  The  re- 
ports and  other  publications  of  the  schools  at  Hampton  and 
Carlisle  present  certain  phases  of  the  Indian  problem  not  found 
elsewhere. 

INDIANS 

Wah-kee-nah  and  Her  People.     G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons.     $1.25. 

Our  Little  Indian  Cousin.     L.  C.  Page  &  Co.     60  cents. 

On  the  Indian  Trail.     Fleming  H.  Revell.     $l.oo. 

Algonquin  Indian  Tales.     Fleming  H.  Revell.     $1.25. 

Ten  Years'  Mission  Work  among  Indians  at  Skokomish. 
Pilgrim  Press.  $1.25. 

Condition  of  Mission  Indians  of  Southern  California  (and 
other  leaflets).  Indian  Rights  Association,  1305  Arch  Street, 
Philadelphia.  2  cents. 

A  Century  of  Dishonor.     Little,  Brown  &  Co.     $1.50. 

Ramona.     Little  Brown  &  Co.     $1.50. 

A  Chronicle  of  Conquest.     Lathrop.     $1.25. 

Onoqua.     Lee  &  Shepard.     #1,00. 

Heroes  of  the  Cross  in  America.  Fleming  H.  Revell. 
50  cents. 

SPANISH-AMERICAN 

Uncle  Sam,  Trustee.     Fleming  H.  Revell.     jSi.oo. 
At  Our  Own  Door.     Fleming  H.  Revell.     $1.00. 
Cuba  and  Porto  Rico.     Century  Co.     #3.00. 
New  Born  Cuba.     Harper.     #2.50. 

193 


194    Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours 

Our  Little  Porto  Rican  Cousin.     L.  C.  Page  &  Co.     60  cts. 
Porto  Rico.     Harper.     $2.50. 
Under  Our  Flag.     Fleming  H.  Revell.     50  cents. 
The  New  Era  in  the  Philippines.    Fleming  H.  Revell.    $1.2$. 
Latin  America.     Fleming  H.  Revell.     $1.20. 
Story  of  a  Mexican  Ranch.     American  Baptist  Board.     3 1. 25. 
Missions  and  Modern  History.     Fleming  H.  Revell.     2  vols. 
$4.00. 

In  volume  I.     The  Emancipation  of  Latin  America. 

In  volume  II.     The  Going  of  the  Spaniard. 


